If Johnny Manziel is going to resume his professional football career in the Canadian Football League, he will have to wait until next season.
On Wednesday, the CFL announced that its commissioner will not allow Manziel to sign a contract with a team in 2017. However, Manziel is welcome to pursue an opportunity with a CFL team next year if he meets “certain conditions.”
“After an extensive process of due diligence and an in-person meeting with Mr. Manziel, the Commissioner has decided that he will not register any contract for Mr. Manziel for this season,” the league said in a statement. “However, Mr. Manziel will be eligible to sign a contract for the 2018 season and, if Mr. Manziel meets certain conditions that have been spelled out by the Commissioner, the CFL will register that contract. The specifics of those conditions are confidential and will not be disclosed. The CFL has extended the stay on the expiry of the 10-day window for Mr. Manziel until Nov. 30, 2017 and therefore Mr. Manziel will remain on Hamilton’s negotiation list until that date.”
Manziel responded with a statement of his own:
A statement from QB Johnny Manziel on the latest CFL development. "I love this game and want to be back on the field…" pic.twitter.com/rHuzB5KKGY
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 27, 2017
Earlier this month, a report indicated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were interested in signing Manziel and were expected to get approval from the league, but that obviously didn’t happen. However, there were also rumblings that Manziel had too many red flags both on and off the field, which is likely what led to the decision from the commissioner.
