Johnny Football is back…again.
As first reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN, Johnny Manziel has been signed by the Alliance of American Football (AAF) and has been assigned to the Memphis Express.
In a statement welcoming Manziel, co-founder Bill Polian said,
“We are pleased to welcome Johnny Manziel to the Alliance of American Football, which we’ve always described as a league of opportunity for talented players to launch or revitalize their pro football careers. We completed extensive background work to determine whether it would be appropriate for Johnny to play this season, and after consulting with many people familiar with his situation, we concluded that it would be good for him to resume his pro football career here at The Alliance. The San Antonio Commanders have released his college allocation rights, and the Memphis Express have claimed him. He will report to Memphis tomorrow, where we all believe he’ll benefit from the coaching and mentorship of Mike Singletary.”
Manziel joins a Memphis team that is currently 1-5 on the season with the worst record in the AAF after this past weekend’s action.
For coach Mike Singletary, he may have to start Manziel as early as this week.
In their 22-9 loss Saturday against the Salt Lake City Stallions, starting QB and former LSU Tiger Zach Mettenberger went down with an ankle injury and backup Brandon Silvers had to finish the game. Silvers didn’t play badly going 23-37 for 242 yds and 1 TD.
But with a roster with a hobbling Mettenberger, and former Express starter Christian Hackenberg on the roster who was benched in favor of Mettenberger, Johnny Football could be the new starter for the Express.
Already with the worst record in the league, with a poor roster of quarterbacks, Manziel could fall into an opportunity to start right away for the Express.
Furthermore, ratings for Express games would surely spike once Manziel jumps on the field for his latest comeback attempt, so there could be pressure to get him on the field right away.
While they may not be the best decision for Manziel to get on the field this quickly, Singletary may have no choice but to throw Manziel on the field right away with their shortage of quarterbacks.
We will see if Manziel can attempt to make the most of yet another chance at playing football after washing out of the CFL in his latest comeback attempt.
Memphis returns to the field next weekend at home against the Birmingham Iron.
Flip the pages to see more on Manziel latest attempt at comeback szn.