Posted on February 28, 2019, by Travis Pulver
The professional football career of one of the most exciting college football quarterbacks in recent history took another turn earlier this week. Former Texas A&M standout and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel was trying to resurrect his career north of the border in the Canadian Football League.
However, it appears that his time with the Montreal Alouettes and the CFL, in general, has come to an end.
Apparently, Manziel was allowed to play in the CFL as long as he abided by certain conditions. The CFL league office found out that he had broken them, or ‘contravened’ them, so they order the Montreal Alouettes to let Manziel go and banned him from signing with any other CFL team.
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Sounds serious, right? Like maybe he reverted back to his old ways and was partying way too hard again? That would make sense, but if that was the case, then it would have been easy for Montreal to cut him loose. Instead, the Alouettes said that if the league hadn’t ordered it, they wouldn’t have released him.
If he had done something like that, it is hard to imagine why the CFL would have presented Manziel with options—but they did. Surprisingly, the CFL has said it will not share what the conditions were or what he did. But chances are he just wanted to pursue an option a little closer to home—like the San Antonio Commanders of the Alliance of American Football league.
He could also be looking to join Bob Stoops with the XFL team in Dallas next year. But while the CFL now allows players to pursue other options like the NFL, most guys—like Manziel — do not qualify.
But since he knows he can get a lot more exposure playing football in the United States, maybe he was just going to go anyway (hence, the CFL resenting him ‘options’). If he was indeed rejecting them, it makes sense for them to ban him.
So—where is Johnny Manziel going to play his next professional football game? OddsShark.com shared the odds on Manziel’s next landing spot on Twitter in the hours after the news broke:
- AAF (Alliance of American Football)-275
- XFL +600
- AFL (Arena Football League) or IFL (Indoor Football League) +600
- CIF (Champions Indoor Football), NAL (National Arena League), or the AAL (American Arena League) +850
- NFL +1200
If he was going to give the Arena Football League a shot, or any of the other indoor options a shot, he probably would have done so before taking off for Canada in the first place. That leaves the AAF, the XFL, or the NFL.
The NFL can more than likely be ruled out. It would be interesting to see Manziel reunited with his former offensive coordinator, new Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Because if anyone can make Manziel look like a superstar it would be the guy that originally created him.
But there is no way Kingsbury opens that can of worms after seeing what happened when he just spoke favorably abut Kyler Murray.
With how the AAF allocates players he would be required to join the San Antonio Commanders, a team that doesn’t need a quarterback. Logan Woodside is one of the better quarterbacks in the AAF.
Several stories have appeared online claiming the AAF is going to have Manziel workout, but that doesn’t mean he will play this season.
Yes, it would be great to get in front of the fans in Texas again, but he will not know the playbook or have any sort of relationship with his teammates, especially his receivers. He would be putting himself in a difficult position to succeed.
He would be better off going with either the AAF or XFL next year. Of course, going with the AAF now could give him a chance to learn the system and his teammates. But there would be pressure to play long before he is ready.
So—where is he going to go? If the San Antonio Commanders were struggling at quarterback, the AAF would be the logical choice. But they don’t, so he should go with the XFL and take his time getting ready.