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The Hamilton Tiger-Cats may be preparing to join forces with Johnny Manziel, but this doesn’t mean that Johnny Manziel is planning to join forces with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Per a league source, Manziel continues to explore all options, including both the CFL and the fledgling Alliance of American Football. And the AAF becomes a viable option when considering that the CFL continues to refuse to relent on its requirement that Manziel commit for two seasons. That would stop Manziel from joining the NFL until November of 2019.

However, the possibility lingers that the CFL will make a change in order to entice Manziel to come to Canada, allowing him for example to leave after one year, if he plays well enough to attract NFL interest.

Last month, Manziel played a pair of games in the Spring League. That has yet to result in an NFL offer for Manziel, before or (so far) after the draft.

From Manziel’s perspective, there’s no specific timeline for making a decision to join the CFL. The Canadian teams head to training camp later this month, but Manziel won’t necessarily decide before that happens.