Johnny Manziel Reportedly Discussing Potential Contract with CFL's Tiger-Cats

Former NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel reportedly remains interested in signing with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League despite failing to receive a contract offer after a two-day tryout with the organization.

On Thursday, a source told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com that Manziel is "focused" on returning to football and seeks an opportunity with the Tiger-Cats, who currently own his CFL rights.

"This is something he very much wants," the source said.

Although Hamilton vice president of football operations Kent Austin didn't rule out the possibility of adding Manziel to the roster in the future, he said Wednesday the move isn't happening now.

"We're not interested in signing Johnny right now. That won't happen," Austin told reporters. "That's not imminent. We're not signing Johnny right now."

He added: "Johnny did some good things. On the field, he looked fine. It was a short workout but obviously he's a talented kid."

Farhan Lalji and Dave Naylor of TSN reported the Tiger-Cats didn't come away from the workouts convinced Manziel is fully prepared to resume a full-time football career, though.

"Too many red flags," a source said.

The quarterback dealt with a series of off-field issues during his time with the Cleveland Browns before getting released in March 2016.

The Tiger-Cats were forced to reverse course this week when they announced the hire of former Baylor University head coach Art Briles, who was fired after the school's sexual assault scandal, before labeling it as a "mistake" in a statement posted on their official website and canceling the coaching move.

"We made a large and serious mistake," the team wrote. "We want to apologize to our fans, corporate partners and the Canadian Football League. It has been a difficult season and we are searching for answers. This is clearly not one of them. We have listened, we are reviewing our decision-making processes and we will learn. We will go on. We want to thank our fans, partners and the CFL for their help and support."

Meanwhile, Fowler noted Manziel has "no NFL workouts on his schedule," which leaves the CFL as one of the few avenues for a comeback attempt.