Shedeur Sanders hype hit Cleveland hard after the 2025 NFL Draft, but 11 years ago there was an even greater prospect, Johnny Manziel, who dramatically failed with the Browns and, after two seasons, had to look for an opportunity outside the NFL.
Manziel wasn’t just any prospect. The Browns selected him with the 22nd overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft after the former Texas A&M QB became the first freshman in history to win the Heisman in 2012.
That season, he piled up an SEC-record 4,600 yards of total offense while leading A&M to a 10-2 regular-season record. Manziel threw for 3,419 yards and 24 touchdowns while adding 1,181 yards and 19 scores on the ground.
The A&M star returned to school in 2013 and threw for 4,114 yards and 37 touchdowns while rushing for 759 yards and nine scores. His two-year totals were remarkable: 9,989 total yards of offense and 93 touchdowns. He was once again voted to the Heisman ceremony as a finalist, finishing fifth behind Jameis Winston.
Manziel, better than Sanders in debut season
Shedeur had to wait until Week 11 to get an opportunity in NFL action, but after three games, he is already rated lower than Manziel by ESPN’s QBR. Sanders has a QBR of 7.0, while Manziel posted a 7.8 after five games in his rookie season.
ESPN’s QBR incorporates all of a quarterback’s contributions to winning, including how he impacts the game on passes, rushes, turnovers, and penalties. It also accounts for a team’s level of success or failure on every play.
Sanders and Manziel seem to be headed for a similar fate in the NFL, as their rookie stats are very close. Their completion rates are nearly identical: Sanders is at 50.8%, while Manziel had 51.4%. Another comparable stat is yards per pass attempt: Shedeur has 6.6, and Johnny had 5.0.
One area where Manziel is clearly better than Sanders is avoiding sacks. Sanders has been sacked six times in three games, while Manziel was sacked only three times in five outings. The former Aggies star also scored a rushing TD during his rookie season-something Sanders has yet to do.
Sanders has been heavily criticized for taking too long to find a receiver. If we remove screens, Sanders becomes the QB with the lowest completion rate (42%) in the league, and he also has the highest time to throw (3.6 seconds). It’s a bad combination if you take that long, you’ve got to find a receiver.
All this puts Manziel ahead of Sanders as a rookie quarterback. We know how Johnny’s career ended, and hopefully Shedeur takes a different path.
Manziel’s “shame” after failing in the NFL
Manziel recently opened up about his failed NFL career and said he felt “shame and regret” for not finding success.
The former college star admitted on the Special Forces show: “I lost a huge part of my work ethic… I gave up on a real opportunity, a football career, and walked away from it pretty quick.”
“When I had gotten everything I’d ever wanted, I think I was the most empty I ever felt inside. I think I was trying to suppress how I felt and get out of being Johnny Football,” he continued.
When I had gotten everything I’d ever wanted, I think I was the most empty I ever felt inside.
Such is the pressure on an NFL player that, after his failure in the league, he “had bought a gun that I knew I was going to use. I had planned to do everything that I wanted to do at that point in my life spend as much money as I possibly could and then my plan was to take my own life,” Manziel concluded.
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