How Johnny Manziel was almost drafted by the Chiefs, changing the course of history and his life

Former quarterback Johnny Manziel imagines how his football career would have played out if he went to a different NFL team.

EXCLUSIVE: In an NFL season defined by the Kansas City Chiefs dynasty and endless Taylor Swift crossover, one big draft moment 10 years ago looms larger than ever. 

Johnny Manziel was the nation's biggest story going into the consequential 2014 NFL Draft. That night, on May 8 in New York City, Manziel showed up to Radio City Music Hall as an anomaly in the draft process. Experts fiercely debated whether one of the biggest stars in college football history was even physically and mentally capable of playing at the pro level at all. 

And 10 years later, the experts who bet against Manziel were right. A short-lived, inefficient career as a backup compounded with addiction issues, bouts with depression and anxiety, and chronicles of off-the-field scandals marked Manziel's drafting as one of the darkest black-hole decisions in the league's history.  

But to his credit, he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns. 

"I was excited whenever it happened on draft night, but looking back now, there's times where I have a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth maybe about how my NFL career turned out," Manziel told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. "The draft is something that is out of your control, it goes the way it goes, you don't have a ton of say in where you end up. Would it have been different if I was somewhere else? Maybe. But that's not really how it went."

And while he had no say in the matter, Manziel still remembers other possibilities. 

He remembers his agent Erik Burkhardt staying in close communication with the Kansas City Chiefs, and he remembers believing that the Chiefs were going to be his