CLEVELAND — The XFL is set for a rebirth in 2020, 19 years after the original league bearing the same name folded after their first season, but there might be two notable former National Football League players who will not compete in the upstart organization.
According to XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck, the league’s teams had their chances to bring in former Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel and running back Trent Richardson, but instead, elected to go in different directions.
“I would argue that the players we have are better than those guys, to be honest,” Luck said in a recent interview with The Tampa Bay Times. “Johnny has his own history, and we have coaches from the CFL who have seen him close up.
“I watched Trent when he was with the Colts, and I watched him when he was with the AAF. He was in the draft pool. Coaches and scouts looked at him and didn’t think he was going to help their team. I think the guys we have on our teams are the best 560 that aren’t playing in the National Football League.”
Manziel spent parts of two seasons in the Canadian Football League, where he started with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats before being traded to the Montreal Alouettes, for whom he completed 106 of his 165 attempts for 1,290 yards and five touchdowns against seven interceptions.
The Alouettes released Manziel earlier this year, based on a directive from CFL officials after they found he violated the agreement which made him eligible to play in the league. Additionally, league officials told all nine clubs that the CFL will not honor a contract should any team attempt to sign Manziel to a new deal.
Manziel then briefly played for the Memphis Express in the Alliance of American Football (AAF) before the league ceased operations midway through its first and only season.
A first-round pick of the Browns in the 2014 NFL Draft, Manziel had a dramatic and tumultuous tenure in Cleveland, one filled with off-the-field partying that was well documented on social media, as well as domestic issues that resulted in legal troubles.
In 14 games over two years with the Browns, Manziel completed 147 of his 258 throws for 1,675 yards and seven touchdowns against five interceptions, and not only missed a Sunday morning appointment as part of the NFL Concussion Protocol, but also, exercised an option to skip the 28-12 season-ending loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium on January 3, 2016.
Following his release from the Browns in March of 2016, Manziel spent the better part of nine months dealing with domestic violence charges, which required him to meet certain requirements, including anger management education and entering the NFL’s substance-abuse program.
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Additionally, before signing a contract with the Tiger-Cats, Manziel had to meet personally with CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie, who had concerns about the off-the-field issues that persisted in Cleveland.
Richardson was a first-round pick of the Browns in the 2012 NFL Draft, and in 17 games with the team before being traded to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3 of the 2013 season, he rushed for 1,055 yards and 11 touchdowns on 298 attempts.
Richardson spent parts of two years with the Colts before going to the CFL, and then, leading the AAF with 11 touchdown rushes.