Heisman winner Johnny Manziel claims his father attempted to broker a $3 million deal with Texas A&M to keep him for 2 more seasons

Johnny Manziel is one of the biggest “what ifs” when it comes to the introduction of name, image and likeness. The former Texas A&M quarterback could have earned a lot of cash had student-athletes been allowed to make financial gains from their popularity during his days.

Nonetheless, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner has said that backdoor deals were done in the pre-NIL era. On Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast, Johnny Manziel said that his father tried to Broker a $3 million deal with the Aggies to keep him at College Station.

“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. 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.”

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Johnny Manziel claims it was a common practice

While the existence of such an illegal induced payment to student-athletes may come as a shock to many, Johnny Manziel said that it's a common practice in the landscape. He estimated that it had been happening in the realm for about four decades.

“Went on for 30, 40 years before. It was the same way that was happening when you were getting recruited back in the day. Just keep it in cash, throw it somewhere. We’ll get it later. We don’t need it right now.”

The allegation involving Cam Newton’s father, who was reported to have asked money from Mississippi State for his son to join the Bulldogs, serves as a testament to the allegation.

Johnny Manziel claims that all schools are involved and that they have agents who help sort it out.

“There was a bagman. There was a bagman at LSU. There was a bagman at ‘Bama.

"There was a bagman at every school around the country if you were competing for a national title. It is what it was, and it was always that way until we’re into the NIL portion of everything now, the way it should be.”

The concept of NIL has its flaws and requires some reform, but the positive impact it has had on the landscape of college sports has been immense. It has prevented the need for athletes to make money from illegal sources over the years.