CFL won’t approve Manziel deal for this year

Johnny Manziel

TORONTO (AP) — Johnny Manziel won’t be kick-starting his pro football career in the Canadian Football League this season.

The league announced Wednesday it won’t approve a contract for the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner until next season, and only if he meets certain conditions stipulated by Commissioner Randy Ambrosie.

Those conditions are confidential, the league said.

Manziel will be eligible to sign a CFL contract after the season.

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Ambrosie met with Manziel earlier this week in Toronto.

“I recently had a really positive meeting with Commissioner 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,” Manziel said in a statement. “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.”

The league also said Manziel will remain on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ negotiation list until Nov. 30. The club has until that time to try to sign Manziel to a future contract or trade him to another team.

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The former Texas A&M star played two tumultuous seasons in the NFL before the Cleveland Browns released him in March 2016 amid an onslaught of off-field issues.