Johnny Manziel to the CFL may be happening sooner rather than later
The Johnny Manziel story to the CFL may be about to go down. Johnny Manziel like everybody knows is on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats negotiation list. The negotiation list is where CFL teams can put American players who don’t have CFL experience on and are the only team who can talk and work out that player.
But if a player wants to play in the CFL, that player can force the team’s hand by giving them 10 days to release, sign or trade the players rights. According to TSN’s Dave Naylor, Johnny Manziel exercised that right.
The Tiger-Cats desperately need a star though, and with starting quarterback Zach Collaros being benched. Meaning, Manziel could sign with Tiger-Cats and learn the CFL game and start the 2018 season and be the star Hamilton needs.
The Tiger-Cats now have 10 days to figure out what they want to do with Manziel, as it was reported a couple weeks ago they weren’t impressed with him in the workout. If they weren’t impressed with him Hamilton may look to try and trade him, and a logical option may be the Toronto Argonauts as they desperately need a star to sell tickets and a new quarterback. Many believe Argonauts starting quarterback Ricky Ray only has 1-2 years left and they need a quarterback to take over, and Manziel would be the perfect guy.
There will be more to come from this story but if Hamilton releases Manziel’s rights it will be interesting if another CFL team will pick him up. Most importantly, Manziel needs to show he can still play football, something he hasn’t done in a couple years. As well, Manziel will need to learn the CFL game, so three downs, longer field, more people on the field, moving receivers and bigger balls.
But if Manziel is up for the challenge and puts in work he could rejuvenate his career, and perhaps get some NFL looks again if he looks good in the CFL.