The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have signed former Heisman Trophy winner and first-round NFL draft pick Johnny Manziel, but he’s not going into this new job with a starting job in hand.
After Manziel signed with the Canadian Football League team, coach June Jones made it clear that Jeremiah Masoli is the team’s starter right now. Furthermore, he made it clear that, if Manziel were to take the job from Masoli, he’s got a lot of work in front of him to make it happen.
“Let me tell you something right now, he’s got his work ahead of him to beat out Jeremiah,” Jones said of Manziel, per nationalpost.com. “He’s got a lot to catch up on, but he’ll spend the time to get that done. I know he will because he’s already learned that lesson.”
The “lesson” Jones refers to here is that, during his tenure with the Cleveland Browns, Manziel admittedly didn’t put in the work teams expect from a professional quarterback.
Since then, the young star has seemingly set his life in order. He has gotten clean and sober, got married and seems to be in a better place now than he was back at the end of the 2015 NFL season.
“I’m humbled to be here,” said Manziel. “I’m very excited to be here, and this isn’t just a pit stop for me. I’m not just coming here to get what I need and go back down to the NFL.”
NFL teams were impressed by what they saw when Manziel participated in a couple of college pro days this spring. But ultimately no team saw him as a player worth investing in at this time.
Now he has the chance to continue proving he’s motivated to do what it takes to live up to they hype with a stint in the CFL. Should Manziel earn the starting job and make a positive impression, both on and off the field, then maybe he’ll get a second chance in the NFL.