It appears that Johnny Manziel has taken his first step back toward returning to pro football. Manziel worked out for a CFL team back in January. The workout, which was reportedly held in Florida, was put on by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who may have violated CFL bylaws by talking to Manziel. Although the former first-round pick has never played in the CFL, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats picked up his exclusive rights in September 2012, which put him on their negotiating list. According to the , no other team in the league is allowed to have any contact with any player who's on another team's negotiating Kyle Korver Jersey list. "The rules regarding the neglist are outlined in our by-laws. A team has exclusive rights to a player on their neglist," A CFL official told the . "Therefore that player could not be contacted by, worked out by, or negotiate with another club unle s consent is given." In a statement, the CFL said that the Roughriders denied that they worked out Manziel. "We are investigating. The 'Riders tell us that they did not work out Manziel," the league . "At this point, it appears the report is false. Should other evidence come to light, we will Milwaukee Bucks Jeresy deal with it accordingly."Roughriders general manager Chris Jones, who also serves as the team's head coach, told "legal action" over the report. from GM Chris Jones on report of working out Manziel: "No one from our club worked him out. We're considering legal action." gary lawle s D.J. Wilson Jersey (@garylawle s) Manziel's spokeperson also denied that a "workout" took place. The reporter who broke the Manziel story has a solid reputation in Canada, so basically, it's his word against the team's, and the team has denied that the workout happened, which makes sense, because if it did happen, then Saskatchewan broke CFL rules and they probably wouldn't want to admit that. As noted by TSN, the Roughriders were penalized twice last season for violating CFL rules. One of those penalties was to a $60,000 fine. The idea of Manziel working out for a CFL team is completely plausible. The quarterback has been adamant about making a return to football this year. At during week, Manziel said he'd make the most of it if an were to give him a shot. "If I played in a , I'd treat it like the Super Bowl," Manziel . Former Manziel teammate, Joe Thomas, believes that going Vin Baker Jersey to the CFL for a year might be Manziel's best chance at eventually returning to the NFL. "I think at this point teams are going to say, 'Hey, prove to me that you can be on the straight and narrow somewhere else before I give you a chance with my team,'" Thomas . "So I think that's kind of where he is. He needs to prove himself in the Arena League or in the CFL, not nece sarily that he has the talent but that he can keep Milwaukee Bucks Hoodie his nose clean and that he can show up for work consistently for maybe a full season." Speaking of keeping his nose clean, Manziel has vowed to do that. The quarterback tweeted that he's no longer "lost in the sauce." According , he's also willing to volunteer to take drug tests to prove that he's clean to any NFL team that might be interested in him. Manziel has been out of football since March 2016 the Browns after two seasons.