Johnny Manziel has less than 24 hours until he begins his latest attempt at sobriety (or so he says). And how is he preparing? By allowing drug users into his Cabo San Lucas compound for the week, of course.
The 23-year-old train wreck, who pledged to get clean with the hopes of playing in the NFL next season, has retreated to Mexico ahead of the holiday weekend, where he taunted his worried father by posing on the edge of a cliff.
While it’s unclear who or what sort of safety net will catch Manziel should he go off the rails again, the Heisman Trophy winner seemingly has reveled in his free time since being cut by the Cleveland Browns in March after two pro seasons. Between undercover operations in Las Vegas and making it rain in strip clubs, Manziel’s benders have kept us wondering when that next line will be crossed.
Party down south
After being named the Browns’ starting quarterback in the middle of the 2015 season, Manziel celebrated his biggest NFL opportunity by throwing it away with one swig of champagne. During Cleveland’s bye week, Manziel returned to his home state of Texas, where he was caught on camera partying with friends at a bar in Austin. After the club got wind of the video, Manziel was benched. The incident occurred less than a year after he checked into a rehab.
Have a Loko holiday season
Following the Christmas holiday, another clip (via Busted Coverage) of Manziel drinking with pals made its way onto the internet. This time, the hard-partying quarterback was seen clutching the alcohol-infused energy drink Four Loko, while rapping to Future’s track “March Madness,” which includes the line, “Dirty soda in a styrofoam.”
“Anytime there’s something with our players that casts them potentially in a bad light, whether it’s Johnny or any of our other guys, it’s a concern,” Mike Pettine, then the Browns’ head coach, said via Cleveland.com. “I’m sure I’ll see it. I’ll have a discussion with him about it.”
World, meet Billy Manziel
It remains one of the most bizarre chapters in Manziel’s disastrous social life: the emergence of his alter ego Billy Manziel. In January, before Week 17 of the season, reports surfaced Manziel had fled to Sin City to hang with pals, but stayed “incognito” by using a cheesy blond wig and a fake mustache as a disguise. Manziel allegedly asked to not be comped in order to avoid using a credit card that would reveal his true identity as he stayed at the club until the wee hours of the morning.
The Browns became concerned when Manziel failed to show up at the team’s facility to meet with doctors, in accordance with the league’s concussion protocol. Hours before, in a failed alibi, Manziel shared a selfie with his pet pug on Instagram, identifying the location as Avon, Ohio.
Cabo: Round One
One week after Manziel was accused of assaulting ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowley, the Texas native jetted to Mexico for a boozy bender in February. Joined by four close friends and an influx of ladies, as the Daily Mail reported, there was more than drinking going on in the $2,500-per-night villa.
“The guys had so many condoms that they were blowing them up into balloons and throwing them around the villa for fun,” a Daily Mail source said. “They would pick up girls from the beach and invite them back to the villa. They had one party and there were 15 girls there.”
The tale of the tape
Warning: Graphic footage
Following his Mexican getaway, Manziel’s next misadventure took place at a South Beach strip club. The disgraced quarterback was supposedly spotted at Miami’s King of Diamonds gentlemen’s club in early March, flashing his chains for the camera before tossing cash at the female dancers.
Days later, Manziel reportedly spent the evening with Instagram model Bianca Ghezzi in his $4,100-a-night waterfront villa in Miami. The brunette bombshell was seen in a video on social media with a person who was identified as Manziel based on his distinctive ink.
“He’s in Miami to have fun, but having had conversations with his friends, I can tell you he’s going through a tough time,” Ghezzi told the Daily Mail. “For the situation that’s going on, you’d think he would be taking it a lot harder, but I think he’s trying to stay positive with everything that’s going on.”
Manziel meets his new partner in partying
After watching Nate Diaz destroy Conor McGregor during UFC 196, Manziel found a new party pal in the form of Scott Disick. According to Entertainment Tonight, the terrible twosome were seated at a VIP table inside Sin City hot spot 1Oak, where they sipped cocktails and champagne before taking a photo in matching beige hoodies and ripped jeans. A few days later, the Browns officially cut Manziel.
Coachella > career
Instead of putting together a plan with newly hired agent Drew Rosenhaus on how to get sober and revive his derailed career, Manziel took off for Coachella. In April, he was spotted in a ball pit at the music festival in Southern California. Rosenhaus ultimately dropped his toxic client after Manziel failed to seek treatment.
“This is a life-or-death situation,” Rosenhaus said on SiriusXM Radio. “I am not talking about football anymore, I am talking about a young man who is in trouble. … I am not going to see him go down in flames with me as his agent.”
You got served
While leaving The Nice Guy in West Hollywood this month, Manziel was served legal papers as he and his date made their way to his Rolls-Royce parked nearby. Though TMZ suggested the papers could be from the $4.5 million rental home that the NFL disgrace trashed in April, he also faces issues stemming from a car accident in May.
Despite the buzzkill, Manziel and the pretty brunette kept the party going as they made their way to another club later that night.
“We’re just trying to have a good time, we’ll deal with that at a different time,” Manziel told TMZ. “It’ll all work itself out, I promise you that.”