It was a pretty quiet 2017 for Johnny Manziel, but just a few days into the new year, the former first-round pick and Cleveland Browns quarterback made plenty of noise with a series of Instagram posts that poke fun at his former team and tease his football future.
The money sign was Manziel's signature move during his time at Texas A&M, though he didn't have many opportunities to show it off. Johnny made just 15 appearances for the Browns, and only threw for seven touchdowns against seven interceptions. In the last post, Manziel wrote, "Just wait on it #ComebackSZN."
In July 2017, Manziel said he had "a couple conversations with some teams" about an NFL comeback, but nothing materialized. A likely first step for Manziel could be the Canadian Football League, where his rights are owned by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and whose commissioner, Randy Ambrosie, issued a statement on December 28 stating that the league would be willing to approve a contract for the 2012 Heisman winner.
Ambrosie wrote that the CFL performed an assessment relating to Manziel's January 2016 domestic violence accusation from ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowley. Manziel later reached a deal to dismiss the case in November 2016 and was cleared in November 2017 after fulfilling a number of requirements, including an anger management course.
Manziel also posted a photo of himself with his fiance, model Bre Tiesi.
As with any Manziel story, people were quick to weigh in on Twitter.
pls don't troll the Browns need you
I just want to live in a world where I can watch @JManziel2 and @baker_mayfield6 go at it during Sunday night football game. Is that too much to ask?
I love how @JManziel2 is trying to blame the organization for his failure as a pro #Browns
