Johnny Manziel was expected to be a draw for a number of Cleveland Browns fans to return to the stadium as the 2012 Heisman winner is sure to pack the stands with his exciting play, but “Johnny Football” is also being used as a draw for the city to host the Republican National Convention.
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Manziel has yet to take a snap in anything other than OTA’s but the team’s second pick in the first round is already trying to throw a couple touchdowns to key Republicans as the city is one of four finalists to host the 2016 convention.
Denver, Dallas and Kansas City are the other finalists to host the event, but Cleveland was the first to receive the full walk-through for the RNC and its site-selection committee as they toured Quicken Loans Arena and Progressive Field, according to Cleveland.com.
Dallas is using former Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach to help their bid so maybe that’ll push Denver to use John Elway and Peyton Manning and Kansas City to use Len Dawson to counteract the star power of Manziel.
Thank you #Cleveland @Browns @JManziel2 @JGil_4 @JoelBitonio @pierre_desir and Terrance West for cheering on #RNC2CLE.
— Cleveland 2016 (@2016CLE) June 4, 2014
Who knows if Manziel is a Republican or Democrat, but we do know he has some big fans in former President George H.W. Bush who met with Manziel prior to his pro day this year and Gov. Rick Perry, who also happens to be a former Aggie.
If Cleveland is successful in their bid to host the RNC, they could owe a big thanks to Manziel.