11 August 2023 , 21:21
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The Netflix documentary "Untold: Johnny Football" about former NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel has been criticised by several prominent media personalities, who called it an incomplete picture of the player's life and experiences with addiction.
"It's not a doc— it's an infomercial that Manziel likely saw as a redemption story that neither he nor the filmmakers could deliver," wrote ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. on social media. "Welcome to the new world of 'sports docs' when the subjects are paid and dictate all the terms."
In the film, Manziel acknowledges he turned to alcohol and drugs as his professional career fell apart amid a lack of focus on perfecting his craft. But as Sports Illustrated writer Jimmy Traina pointed out, the film abruptly concludes with him drinking and doesn't thoroughly explain where his life is headed.
"The Johnny Manziel doc on Netflix was so weird," Traina wrote. "Something felt off the entire show. They spent 10 seconds on Manziel saying he planned to kill himself. They glossed over his drug problem. They highlighted his drinking. Then the show ends with him drinking a beer. Bizarre."
The film's omissions didn't stop there. Producers didn't interview any of Manziel's college teammates at Texas A&M. The school's array of future NFL players were barely mentioned at all.
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Interest in the documentary has been high after Manziel's unusual career path. He excelled in the NCAA to build up a huge national following, his boisterous personality and on-field dances making him the perfect subject matter for daytime TV talk shows in the United States.
But Manziel couldn't replicate his college success in the NFL after the Cleveland Browns drafted him at No. 22 overall in the 2014 NFL Draft. He lasted just two seasons, posting a 2-6 record while throwing seven interceptions. In the documentary, he admits to never watching tape with Cleveland. And he says he was miserable with the team.
Johnny Manziel lasted just two seasons in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns. (Getty Images)"Didn't take me very long to be in Cleveland to find out that I wasn't going to be happy there," Manziel says in the film. "I had every single thing that I could have ever wanted. You have money, you have fame, you're a first-round draft pick battling for a starting quarterback position. And when I got everything that I wanted, I think I was the most empty that I've ever felt inside."
Since then, the 30-year-old has competed in the Canadian Football League, AAF and Fan Controlled Football League with minimal success. Given the amount of time it's been since he played and his distaste for the league, it's unlikely he would ever make an NFL return.
"I would sit in my condo in Cleveland downtown and just feel like it was the only place that I could get away from everybody and anything," Manziel says. "And I would look out those windows every day and I just felt empty. I went from one fishbowl city to another, and I wanted nothing to do with football I wanted nothing to do with stepping on that field. And I had bigger issues in my life than being able to go out and play free-spirited, flowing football."