Johnny Manziel Likely To Sign Two-Year CFL Deal If No NFL Opportunity Surfaces

On Saturday, former Browns QB Johnny Manziel played in a football game for the first time in over two years as part of The Spring League.

Manziel finished the day completing 9 of 15 pass attempts for 82 yards and a touchdown.

After the game, Manziel admitted that he was disappointed by the sloppiness of the game.

“It’s disappointing, some of the things that happened, but nevertheless, it’s a huge step for me,” Manziel said, via ESPN.com. “I put pads back on. A lot of people wrote me off just to even get to this point. I’m definitely emotional about it. I’m definitely happy about it. This isn’t the end goal for me, but I’m having fun again. I have a smile on my face.

According to Kevin Seifert, there were a total of 17 NFL teams with scouts in attendance for The Spring League’s practices. Manziel is clearly hoping to get an opportunity from one of them. Otherwise, he plans to sign a two-year contract to play in the CFL.

It’s worth mentioning that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats own Manziel’s CFL rights and their GM, Eric Tillman, was among those in attendance for Saturday’s game.

Earlier this offseason, Manziel nearly had an agreement in place with the Tiger-Cats of the CFL, but his self-imposed deadline passed without an agreement in place.

Manziel, 25, is a former first-round pick of the Browns back in 2014. He was in the second year of his four-year, $8,247,250 rookie contract when the Browns cut him loose at the start of the 2016 league year.

Manziel received a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on recreational drug and wound up sitting out the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

In 2015, Manziel appeared in nine games and thrown for 1,500 yards while completing 57.8 percent of his passes to go along with seven touchdowns and five interceptions. Manziel also ran for 230 yards. Pro Football Focus had him rated as the No. 31 quarterback out of 36 qualifying players that year.

We’ll have more regarding Manziel as the news is available.

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