Johnny Manziel knows he’s not going to play football again this year (if ever). And the CFL is in the middle of their season.
Those two pesky facts aside, the commissioner of the Canadian Football League said he’d welcome Manziel north of the border, with conditions.
“We try not to speculate on situations like that,” Jeffrey Orridge told ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert. “And I really can’t speculate too much on hypotheticals. But I can tell you that what’s paramount to us is ensuring the success of an athlete, while at the same time preserving and promoting the integrity of the league and the game.”
While it’s unclear if that bowl of word salad goes well with back bacon, the speculation about Manziel’s returning to play is largely moot until he shows he’s interested in it. And until he takes some of those steps, it’s hard to imagine any team in the CFL or NFL being interested.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats hold his negotiation rights, giving them first crack at him if he decides to go to Canada. Orridge said the CFL will generally leave such decisions to teams, but would step into certain situations if necessary (as they may or may not have done with Greg Hardy).
“I rely primarily on the assessment of the team,” Orridge said. “It is their charge to evaluate the talent and to bring that talent forward. To be candid, if there is a situation that we believe warrants additional input, we certainly want to provide that to the team. We’re obviously charged with making sure that the integrity of the league and the integrity of our brand is perpetuated.”
How Manziel would help them toward that goal is unclear, but until he helps himself, it’s hard to know why they’d bother.
