We won’t be seeing the birth of Johnny Canadian Football. At least, not this year. Johnny Manziel has been barred from playing in the CFL in 2017, the league’s commissioner announced on Wednesday. 
“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,” said the league 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.”
Recently, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats worked out Manziel and, depending on who you ask, they may have had some interest in signing the controversial quarterback. The Ti-Cats have Manziel on their 45-man negotiation list, but the league will not green light a signing until next year.
Moments after the league rendered its decision, Manziel issued a statement of his own:
“I recently had a really positive meeting with Commissioner Randy Ambrosie and welcomed the chance for us to get to know each other and have an in-depth talk about a possible future with the CFL. I love this game and want to be back on the field in a situation where I can help a franchise in the long term. Over the past months, my agent helped me vet all of my options for playing, figuring out where I could be most effective and get back to having the most fun with the game I love. I’m ready to play today, but we all agreed with the Commissioner that it made no sense for me to join a team with only a month left in the season – it wouldn’t have been fair to my teammates, coaches or the fan base. I want to come into a team and earn my job day one, like everyone else. I look forward to preparing myself as best I can and look forward to what the future holds.”
Manziel, 25 in December, hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2015 campaign. In eight career starts for the Browns, the former first-round choice completed 57% of his passes for 1,675 yards, seven touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
The title of the article is very misleading. There’s only a month left so the league is waiting until next year…he’s not banned from signing at all, he just has to wait.
So, he’s banned from signing this year, correct?
Agreed, the title should say “barred from playing in the CFL until 2018” but after reading his comments I think that’s a little harsh. Sounds like they came up with a good plan to introduce him to the league in a more sensible way – which is very different than the negative tenor of the rest of the article.
if you believe Johnny football statement than you don’t know the entire story.
the rumblings out of Hamilton is that the team questioned his dedication to football and the league was still concerned over some of his personal antics.
while I don’t necessarily believe he was banned, I certainly don’t think it was just a matter of “Well the timing isn’t right”. He’s been asked to demonstrate that he has grown up and stay out of trouble and if he can do that for the remainder of the year, they can revisit his eligibility.
Just waiting on the Lower Augusta Mudbugs of the 7th tier arena league to snatch him up…