Johnny Manziel's return to professional football got off to a rocky start Friday night in his CFL debut with the Montreal Alouettes.
Manziel threw an interception on his first series and was picked off three more times in Montreal's 50-11 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Johnny Manziel's first career @CFL pass is an interception.#CFLGameDay #FNF pic.twitter.com/mykB0jZFPZ
— CFL on TSN (@CFLonTSN) August 3, 2018
The former Cleveland Browns quarterback and 2012 Heisman Trophy winner completed 11 of 20 passes for 104 yards before being benched for former Oregon quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. in the fourth quarter.
It's obviously not the debut Manziel hoped for when he joined the league in May. Yet it's worth noting he's only had a handful of practices with Montreal since coming over from the Tiger-Cats in a recent trade. And the Alouettes aren't exactly the Philadelphia Eagles of the CFL. They're 1-6 this season and have lost 17 of 18. So Manziel deserves a mulligan here, even if he looks a long way from his glory days at Texas A&M.