Since the start of the NFL offseason, former quarterback Johnny Manziel has been making a significant push to get back into the league for the first time in three years. He has shown a large amount of progress in his personal life by finally getting that in order for his football career to have a chance to make a comeback.

In this entire process, he has had a standing offer from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the CFL that has let simmer as he looked to get a contract from an NFL team. With no deal in place with any franchise, Manziel has decided to make the leap to Canada this upcoming season. (h/t Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk)

“I am formally signing in the CFL,” he said. “I have decided to sign with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. I’ll be up here for it looks like two years. I’ll be getting back to playing ball. That’s what I want to do.”

The decision to accept the deal from the Tiger-Cats now places Manziel under contract for the next two years as the team will hold his rights in 2018 and 2019 with his first chance to head back to the NFL being late in the 2019 campaign. It is a multi-year commitment but it shows that he is serious about restarting his professional football career.

Manziel should have the opportunity in front of him to earn the chance to start with Hamilton next season. This is a situation that he can showcase on the field that he has talent and ability to be an NFL-caliber quarterback while leading a team to success. There is certainly much he can benefit from toward getting his football career back on track as his personal life follows that same path.

This will be a true test to see if the progress he has made getting his life together away from the game can stay on a steady path now that he has joined a professional team. Nonetheless, this could be the first step toward getting back into the NFL.