Ticats quarterback Johnny Manziel was on the Dan Patrick Show on Thursday and he dropped some interesting nuggets during the interview.

This wasn’t the first apperance the 25-year-old made on the DP Show, so he seemed pretty open and comfortable throughout the interview. You can listen to the full interview by clicking here.

Here’s some of the CFL highlights from the interview:

• Patrick asked Manziel if he’s committed to the CFL for two years “no matter how successful you are that first year”. Manziel’s simple answer: “That’s essentially what it is, yes sir.”

That’s significant because we know that the mandatory two-year contract for CFL rookies was a sticking point during negotiations. It was reported that Manziel’s camp asked the league to give him special permission to sign a one-year contract, but that was denied. Of course, if Manziel lights it up this year, the Ticats can always cut him so that he could join an NFL team, but they’d have to absorb a fine.

• Manziel on the CFL field being wider: “Right now, the thing you notice most is the field being wider. Because when your trips are to the field some of those throws to the outside Z or X, you definitely have to get on the majority of your throws and really let it fly. That’s one thing, there really is no lobbing the ball around here because there’s so much space. You really step into it and let it rip. I think that fits my game style a little bit.”

• Manziel on having a 12th defender on the field: “It just looks different. It’s not what I’m familiar to seeing as far as you come up and you look at your front, look at the defence, look at where your backers are. Things are just a little bit off because there’s that extra guy. At the end of the day, it’s still ball. You’re still throwing into the windows, you’re still throwing man routes, you’re still throwing people open.”

• On being the backup quarterback to Jeremiah Masoli: “Jeremiah’s been great for me. I obviously watched Jeremiah when I was coming out and he was with Chip Kelly at Oregon back in 2009-2010. That kid can play. He’s been nothing but a pro to me so far. He’s helped me with a lot of stuff. And really the progression that I’ve made in the couple of days has been from watching him with the ones and learning from some of these vets who have been here has been a big key for me.

• On how close he was to signing with an NFL this offseason: “We did the couple of pro days that we did and there was a lot of eyes there. … We had some talks. I let my agent handle a lot of it. He was like, ‘you need to be here, you need be there. You need to do this, you need to do that.’ I pretty much followed everything that he had to say. … When it came down to it, this was the best opportunity that I had on my plate without waiting longer and potentially missing another fall of football because that can’t happen.”

• On partying with teammates during the CFL season: “Listen, there’s certain things I can’t do. There’s guys up here that I’m sure are talking about going out and doing stuff, but for me, I’m here to play ball. I’ll have a chance to relax when the season’s over, you get a bye week or something like that. But for now, I’m behind, I have certain things that I have to do to help me ensure success. Things off the field, things in the classroom, things that I have to do to make sure I’m the best person I can be. And when I’m a good person and when I’m positive and when I’m doing alright, things seem to happen the right way for the most part.”

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