Johnny Manziel Reportedly Plans to Volunteer for Drug Testing During Comeback

Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel is reportedly willing to volunteer for drug testing to show he's serious about his latest NFL comeback attempt. 

Alex Marvez of Sporting News reported Friday the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, who's currently a free agent, stopped taking the NFL-mandated tests while out of the league last season. However, he's now willing to re-enter the program before signing with a team in an effort to prove he's clean.

Manziel has been without a team since the Browns released him last March. In June, the league handed down a four-game suspension for a violation of the substance-abuse policy. It made him a Stage Two offender under the league's drug program, according to the Sporting News report.

The 24-year-old Texas A&M product could face further league discipline regarding a domestic-violence case involving ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowley. ESPN.com noted he reached an agreement to dismiss the charge, but the NFL could still suspend him for six games.

Manziel entered the league with an incredible amount of hype, but an extended series of missteps and lackluster on-field performance led the Browns to give up on him. The team had invested the 22nd overall pick to select the Texas native in the 2014 draft.

His love of the party scene led to some dire predictions about his future. The most worrisome came in comments his father, Paul Manziel, made to Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News last February.

"I truly believe if they can't get him help, he won't live to see his 24th birthday," Manziel said.

The quarterback reached his 24th birthday in December and is now apparently focused on earning another chance in the NFL, though it's unclear if he'll ever get it.

He told ESPN's Ed Werder in January that one day his current situation hit him like a ton of bricks and he decided it was time for a change.

"I refuse to let my entire life of sports from the age of four be squandered by partying," Manziel said. "I just got sick of it. 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 added, "Only need one team to believe in me and I'll do anything to make that a possibility."

Volunteering to take drug tests is a step in the right direction. The immense demand for quarterbacks around the league also helps his cause. No fewer than six teams are heading into the offseason looking to upgrade at the position, and that's a conservative estimate.

That said, Manziel's off-field track record is a problem, as is the fact he could still receive another suspension from the NFL before the 2017 season. And he didn't look like a franchise quarterback when given the chance in Cleveland, posting a lackluster 74.4 passer rating across 14 games.