The Spring League's two-game season concluded on Thursday and Johnny Manziel, playing for the South team in the four-team developmental league, went 10 of 16 for 188 yards, an interception and two running touchdowns.
QB Johnny Manziel’s (@jmanziel2) 20 yard TD scamper is the first game’s play of the game. #TheSpringLeague pic.twitter.com/jxoSgJOV9h
— The Spring League (@TheSpringLeague) April 13, 2018
QB Johnny Manziel (@jmanziel2) finds WR Antwan Goodley for a 50 yard completion in his first series of the evening. #TheSpringLeague pic.twitter.com/bcj7ayak7k
— The Spring League (@TheSpringLeague) April 12, 2018
QB Johnny Manziel (@jmanziel2) rolls out and dives for the pylon to secure his second rushing TD of the evening and the 14-7 Team South lead! #TheSpringLeague pic.twitter.com/P97j35BudR
— The Spring League (@TheSpringLeague) April 12, 2018
And while the first step was getting back on the field, which Manziel did last Saturday, now the former Heisman Trophy winner and Browns first-round pick has a month to make a decision about his football-playing future.
"I'm straight back to working out and doing what I did when I came here," Manziel said after the game, via ESPN.com. "Everything else will sort itself out. I'm trying to do what I can do to come back to playing football whatever capacity that is. We know when deadlines are. We have another month or so to work out and not worry about anything."
At least 13 NFL teams watched Manziel take part in pro days last month at the University of San Diego and Texas A&M. And if he doesn't find his way onto a roster, Manziel has said that he'll likely head to the CFL, where the Hamilton Tiger-Cats have a two-year contract on the table.
The issue has never been with Manziel's on-field ability but his struggles to avoid trouble off the field. He now says those days are behind him. In a conversation with SI.com's Bruce Feldman last month Manziel conceded that he has to prove that he's changed.
"When I first got in the league, did I have some leeway? Sure I did, but I have exhausted all leeway and all second chances," Manziel said. "This isn't the second chance. This is the 35th chance. This is the last of the last chances to show people that I've made a drastic change in my life, and it's for the better and I'm happy with where I'm at. ... [But] until I get into [an NFL] building and I'm able to show that, it's all just talk. It's all just me saying that I'm different. Now, I know I am."
Manziel, who said after his first Spring League game last week that he was "definitely emotional" and "happy" about playing again, now seems singularly focused on football, something he couldn't say during his two turbulent seasons in Cleveland.
"I got to do exactly what I want to do and what I've been missing for the last two years," he said Thursday.
