Ticats trim roster
No surprise as new quarterback Johnny Manziel makes team
Johnny Manziel made the team.
There was never any doubt about that — barring something that made headlines at TMZ — but given the backup quarterback has been the story of Hamilton Tiger-Cats training camp, it probably makes sense to get that factoid out of the way.
And while there wasn’t anything shocking among the Ticats’ roster moves, announced several hours after the league’s apparently arbitrary 10 a.m. Sunday deadline, the team’s decision to trade veteran defensive back Abdul Kanneh to the Toronto Argonauts for an eighth-round draft pick earlier that morning was certainly interesting.
That’s a deal a team executes when they are trying to get anything for a guy they are about to cut, essentially a slight upgrade from a bag of footballs. It allows the player to stay on his existing deal, however, and allows the Ticats to salvage something from what was a marquee free agent signing in the winter of 2016 when Kanneh was coming of an all-star season.
But Kanneh experienced a slow slide from grace under new defensive co-ordinator Jerry Glanville this spring. It feels like the Ticats are going to play a ton of man-to-man under Glanville and there were questions whether Kanneh was well suited to that scheme. Combine that with the potential cap savings as well as the emergence of what the team feels is a few good men during training camp and suddenly Kanneh is expendable. Trading Kanneh to the Argos is risky, though, because they are a division rival.
Hamilton has seen a few guys head down the QEW and have success including defensive backs Cassius Vaughn and Rico Murray — both of whom now have Grey Cup rings. Kanneh seems like the type of guy who will take some pleasure in sticking it to his old team if he gets the chance.
Kanneh may have bumped Manziel from the Ticat headlines on Sunday but it was all Johnny, all the time on Saturday as he sparked a 30-15 win over the Alouettes in the team’s final exhibition game.
Manziel finished with 12 of 20 passing for 88 yards and a touchdown and while his longest completion was just 13 yards, he took more shots down the field in his second pre-season game.
He also ran four times for 19 yards and showed much of the athleticism that has excited the Hamilton coaching staff.
“I gave him a little bit more out there but he’s still a little bit rusty. He’s a competitor, he knows what’s going on, he sees what’s going on,” head coach June Jones said. “Johnny did what he does, he made some plays.”
Manziel also fired up the Alouettes. Linebacker Henoc Muamba took a 15-yard penalty after shoving Manziel as he ran out of bounds and defensive end Jamaal Westerman got into the quarterback’s face as he tried to return to the field.
As he did after the team’s first pre-season game against Toronto, Manziel vowed to stand his ground. “I don’t want anything but everybody’s best shot. I’ve talked to guys on the team about this about some things I said last week as far as I’m not backing down from anybody. I think that’s the mantra of our whole team. We’re not going to be pushed around by anybody.”
Even with Kanneh gone, Manziel settled in, and the final roster cuts made, there are still plenty of questions for the Ticats. The team still has a whopping 55 guys on the active roster and that will have to be sliced to 46 in time for Saturday’s season opener in Calgary (a number of players will likely head to the injured list.) What, exactly, the secondary will look like remains an open question — and a big one.
But after all the hoopla surrounding Johnny Football, he starts the season as the backup quarterback. For all the unknowns, Manziel’s status is something we know for sure.
At least for now.