Former Texas A&M Football Star Would Have Made Bank in NIL Era

A former Texas A&M Aggies football star would have been raking in offers had NIL deals been around when he played.

Sep 16, 2023; College Station, Texas, USA; Former Texas A&M Aggies player Johnny Manziel is interviewed during the game between the Aggies and Louisiana Monroe Warhawks at Kyle Field. / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

It is awesome to see student-athletes around the country now being able to earn some money without jeopardizing their eligibility to play collegiately. The NIL era is one schools are still trying to navigate, as some have leaned into it more than others.

Given how many stars college sports have produced across all platforms, a fun debate to have is how much some of them would have made in their day and age had NIL been a thing.

One of the players who would have assuredly made a killing on that front is Johnny Manziel.

The former Texas A&M Aggies star quarterback was as polarizing as an athlete there was in the sport during his time at College Station. 

He took the college football world by storm in his two seasons as a starter, winning the Heisman Trophy as a freshman in 2012 along with earning All-American honors.

He ended up declaring for the NFL Draft after his second season as a starter following the 2013 campaign. Selected in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, his professional career did not pan out.

However, had NIL been a thing when he played, he could have very well remained with the Aggies beyond the 2013 season.

In his recent weekly spot on “Johnny’s Intagibles” on Action Network’s BBOC YouTube Channel, Manziel revealed he received some offers in an effort to entice him to stay in college.

"I remember my favorite food spot in college, Jose's Mexican Food in Bryan, Texas, offered me free chicken quesadillas for life if I came back and played another year for the Aggies.

I still have the letter to this day, and I remember going back home and telling my sister and my mom about it. It was definitely something that was lingering in my head as I was deciding to put those papers in for the NFL Draft."

It's funny that Manziel brought that up, as Marshall Thundering Herd's head coach Charles Huff went viral for offering any Ohio State Buckeyes players who transferred to his team an all-you-can-eat deal from Tudor’s Biscuits.

Ahead of Saturday’s game at Ohio State, Marshall’s Charles Huff offers any Buckeyes that transfer to MU an all-you-can eat NIL deal from Tudor’s Biscuits 😋 pic.twitter.com/aXgEUe4nQ7

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 18, 2024

College kids got to eat!

Jose’s Mexican Food wasn’t the only offer that was on the table for Manziel to return to Texas A&M. As shared by Collin Whitchurch of Action Network, his father attempted to work out a backdoor deal worth a large sum of money.

“Earlier this year, Manziel revealed on a podcast that his dad attempted to negotiate a $3 million deal with then-Aggies head coach Kevin Sumlin to get his son to stay in College Station instead of leaving early for the NFL. While a deal couldn't get done there (nor was it legal), his love for his favorite dish apparently played a role,” Whitchurch wrote.

In today’s college football landscape, that kind of negotiation by a father would be allowed. That amount of money speaks volumes to how much Manziel was worth to the football program.

$3 million is a lot of money;  only four college athletes top that amount in NIL valuations shared by On3; Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders, LSU Lady Tigers gymnast Livvy Dunne, Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning and Sanders’s two-way star teammate, Travis Hunter.