Johnny Manziel has yet to play a down of meaningful football for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

In fact, head coach June Jones said back in May that Manziel had “no chance” to start in Hamilton’s season opener. Why? Because former Oregon—and Ole Miss kind of, but not really—star Jeremiah Masoli is the the Ti-Cats’ starting quarterback.

Masoli, in case you’ve forgotten, was also a pretty transcendent talent for a hot second with the Ducks. 

Prior to the 2009 season, Masoli—who’d burst onto the scene a year before—landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Next, he completed 58 percent of his throws for 2,147 yards and 15 touchdowns, ran for 13 scores, and led Oregon to the Rose Bowl. His 2,815 yards of total offense is good for eighth on the school's single-season list.

But for an encore, he was arrested for second-degree burglary weeks after losing to Ohio State in Pasadena, earning himself a year-long suspension from Oregon head coach Chip Kelly.

Of course, rather than serve that suspension, Masoli—with only a year of eligibility remaining—transferred to Ole Miss, eventually received a graduate transfer waiver, and wrapped up his college career rather unspectacularly for a 4-8 Rebels team that was so Houston Nutt it hurts.

Anywho…

Masoli landed in the CFL in 2013, got traded, sat the bench a bunch, but kept at it despite the fact that his career had been largely written off as a cautionary tale. Finally, after a 2017 season in which Masoli balled in place of Zach Collaros, Jones—having only recently taken over as head coach in Hamilton, announced that Masoli was his starter moving forward.

Then, Johnny Football fell in his lap. And, after a little less than a month, Jones has been so impressed by Manziel that he insists the former Heisman Trophy winner does not belong north of the border.

"He should be playing in the National Football League,” Jones told ESPN. “And I believe he will when he gets through with us.”

So, according to Jones, Manziel is still really, really good. Still NFL good. Just not good enough to start over Masoli.

Like, to recap, Manziel = NFL, but Masoli > Manziel, so Masoli = ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If Nathan Peterman can stick on a roster, I mean…

(Sorry, Nathan, not sure how you got roped into this.)