Update:
On Friday, Johnny Manziel claimed that he is now completely sober, and that he's done it without any help. He also sent veteran ESPN reporter Ed Werder a lengthy message that said he intended to make a comeback to the NFL. "I refuse to let my entire life of sports from the age of 4 be squandered by partying. I just got sick of it," Manziel said. "One day I didn't like what I saw in the mirror and realized I could really help people in the position I'm in."
He also provided details to the fairly vague tweets that he sent out on Thursday (and that you can read below):
"I love sports, I love football and when you take something away from yourself you realize it the hard way. The happiness from doing it sober has been ASTRONOMICAL. Beyond my wildest imagination and once that continued other good things started happening in my life and it just clicked."
Asked by Werder what his immediate goal was, Manziel said that he intended to take another shot at being a quarterback in the NFL. He also said he just needs one team to be willing to give him the opportunity:
"PLAY FOOTBALL. A pre season game, anything I don't care what it is. Only need one team to believe in me and I'll do anything to make that a possibility."
Seems like a long shot, but in a league where Brock Osweiler starts in the playoffs we suppose anything is possible. Guess it's your move NFL front offices.
Original Story Below
Every once in awhile there's a moment where Johnny Manziel shows some sense of self-awareness. On early Thursday afternoon, one of those moments took place. Manziel took to his Twitter account to say that he was "a douche in 2016" and that he's making an effort to be a good person again. He blamed alcohol for his past year's douchery. That being said, if you're skeptical of all of this given his failure to live up to past promises, that skepticism is probably more than warranted.
Asked by a follower if his account was hacked, Manziel stated that it was not (though, frankly, that's something a hacker would say), and added that admitting there's an issue is the first step:
He also said that he has to live a life of virtue, and not just be all Twitter talk:
At that point he also said that it's important to trust the process, like a certain athlete who uses that phrase more than every other person on the planet combined:
Finally he rounded off his updates, one of the rare ones that isn't filmed by a TMZ cameraman outside a bar at 2 A.M., by taking the opportunity to call BS on a report that said he'd be charging $50 for selfies at this year's Super Bowl in Houston:
If he means them, these are all good things.