It appears like Johnny Manziel isn't interested in joining the XFL after all. The former Cleveland Browns quarterback and Texas A&M star took to Twitter late Friday night and tweeted a message to XFL commissioner Oliver Luck expressing his interest in joining the rebooted league.
"Oliver Luck," Manziel wrote. "If ya wanna boost your ratings to another level, just send me the contract tomorrow and we're in there. Like I said YEARS ago ... XFL2020 give the people what they want."
In the hours after that tweet was published, Manziel's account was completely deleted off Twitter, which led to speculation that his account could have been hacked or he simply regretted the post after putting his true feelings out there for all of social media to see. Since then, Manziel revived his social media accounted by tweeting "Love trollin" on Saturday night.
In the following tweet, Manziel noted that he has "zero desire to play any football these days. Just love stirring up controversy."
Have zero desire to play any football these days. Just love stirring up controversy.
— Johnny Manziel (@JManziel2) February 23, 2020
Well, that seems to be the end of that.
After the Browns released Manziel in March of 2016 due to poor play and off-the-field issues, the former first-round pick later signed with the Canadian Football League. He bounced around the CFL between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes before joining the since-folded AAF last spring. The last time we saw Manziel on a professional football field was with the AAF's Memphis Express.
While Manziel may be joking around with the possibility of joining the XFL, the league hasn't appeared to be too interested in bringing him aboard in the first place. That said, the former Heisman Trophy winner is right when he says he'd bring ratings (at least for a week or two). Manziel was one of the more electrifying quarterbacks in college football during his days with the Aggies and was a polarizing figure as he entered the NFL. He'd unquestionably be the most famous player in the XFL if he signed with a team.
The league did see a ratings decline of 34% from its opening weekend to Week 2. It's not entirely surprising that there was a dip in the ratings, but if that trend continues, it will be curious to see if the XFL changes course on Manziel and reaches out. Who knows, maybe Johnny Football would be singing a different tune on his playing future if his phone actually rings.