Johnny Manziel: My Dad Tried to Get $3M Deal for Me to Play 2 More Years at Texas A&M | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

The family of Johnny Manziel attempted to set a seven-figure price tag in order to get him to stay at Texas A&M, according to the man himself.

“It’s the spring of 2014, December 2013, right in there about December/January, I’m getting ready to make this decision on if I’m going to the NFL Draft or if I’m going to stay,” he said on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast (via Thomas Goldkamp of On3). “And I found this out five years later from my dad.

“But my dad went and had a meeting with Kevin Sumlin. And pretty much went to him man to man and was like, ‘We’ll take $3 million and we’ll stay for the next two years.’ And my dad says this is as true today as he did when he told me.”

The 2012 Heisman Trophy winner estimated at the 1:06:55 mark he would’ve been worth “probably” $10 million in NIL endorsements after his redshirt sophomore season. He said he could’ve collected $5 million through his social media channels alone.

It’s not as though college athletes haven’t achieved mainstream exposure, but those who didn’t witness the Johnny Football era may struggle to truly appreciate how popular he was.

The dynamic quarterback was a rock star with the Midas touch in College Station. Thanks in no small part to Manziel’s contributions, Aggies head coach Kevin Sumlin secured a massive extension and the school undertook a massive renovation to Kyle Field.

Perhaps Manziel was exaggerating a bit in terms of what he might’ve collected in endorsements. USC guard Bronny James has the highest NIL valuation on On3, and that’s only $5.8 million.

However, there’s no question he would’ve been a rich man before he ever hit the NFL. And $3 million for two seasons would’ve been a bargain for A&M.