ESPN: Broker Has Evidence of Manziel Discussing Money for Autographs

Another day, another report about Johnny Manziel and autographs. This time, it's an unnamed autograph broker who has a video in which the quarterback allegedly discusses money for autographs:

An East Coast autograph broker told ESPN on Tuesday that Johnny Manziel was paid $7,500 for signing approximately 300 mini- and full-sized helmets on Jan. 11-12 while he was attending the Walter Camp Football Foundation event.

The broker played two cell phone videos for ESPN showing Manziel signing white Texas A&M helmets and footballs laid out on a bed in a hotel room. The video does not show Manziel accepting any money. ...

At one point, ESPN heard a broker ask Manziel if he would take additional cash to sign with special inscriptions, but Manziel declined, indicating he had done that before and it led to questions. The video does not show Manziel accepting cash, which the broker alleges happened three times. The broker told ESPN Manziel said he wanted money for new rims for his vehicle.

Emphasis mine.

So, this video doesn't have Manziel actually taking money in it. However, it has Manziel saying that he has taken money for autographs in the past.

Note: I read that second part as: Manziel said he had taken money for special inscriptions before but declined to take money for special inscriptions this time. Some folks on Twitter have pointed out that it might mean that he merely said he had done special inscriptions before and was declining to do special inscriptions this time. The wording in the original is not clear.

At this point, we don't know if the video is legit or not, but obviously it must be convincing for ESPN to run with this report. The broker wouldn't give ESPN the video, though he did let Joe Schad see it.

The next big question is whether this report is enough for Texas A&M or the NCAA to do something or if they would actually need to see this video. It doesn't sound like they're get to see it, as the broker decided to stop shopping the video ESPN (he tried to sell it; ESPN declined) and says he won't cooperate with the NCAA. Of the three reports so far, this seems to be the most incriminating to Manziel.