Ad Disclosure
Johnny Manziel CFL contract details released, won’t be highest-paid former SEC QB on the team
By Andrew Olson
Published:
College and pro football fans who don’t normally follow the CFL were reading and hearing about the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Saturday after Johnny Manziel announced his decision to play in the CFL for the next two seasons. The casual football fan may assume that Manziel is walking into a guaranteed starting job. The former Heisman winner was an NFL starting quarterback not too long ago and made the choice to go the CFL for two years rather than holding out for a camp invite or trying other minor leagues.
Tiger-Cats contracts suggest that the job is far from being guaranteed to Manziel. NFL reporter Jason La Canfora shared the details of Manziel’s contract, which starts at a $122,000 base before bonuses.
Manziel’s CFL contract: $122k base, $10k sign bonus, $18k housing stipend, $10k if active 6 games, $10k for 10 games active. $10k for 14 games active. Another $120k if plays half of snaps. March 1 $75k offseason bonus. 2018 $202k base w/same incentives
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) May 19, 2018
Manziel, however, won’t be the highest paid former SEC quarterback on the team. Michael David Smith at Pro Football Talk notes in his recent article that Hamilton is more invested in a different SEC alum, former Ole Miss QB Jeremiah Masoli, who is set to make a base salary of $235,000 with an additional $90,000 in playing time incentives. He also received a signing bonus in January of $125,000. Masoli is the team’s incumbent starting quarterback.
The Tiger-Cats appear to know what they’re doing, as the playing time contract incentives should insure that the starting quarterback is the higher paid of the two quarterbacks. May the best former SEC quarterback win the job.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
