For the Browns' future, it's all about Johnny Manziel
By Craig Lyndall
Everything comes down to Johnny Manziel. That’s an odd thing to say heading into a year where he’s scheduled to be the backup, but it’s undoubtedly true for the Browns right now. They know it. They’ve been telling us for a long time even if some of us didn’t want to listen. I think I’ve known it all along, but it’s really come into focus since the Texans named Brian Hoyer their starting quarterback to begin the 2015 NFL season.
The Brian Hoyer news made me think hard about the Browns and their decision to go with Josh McCown. I asked myself, “Would the Browns be better off with Brian Hoyer instead of Josh McCown?” It’s a reasonable question if you want to hyper-analyze something that is of such little importance that it might well be skipped as a topic. If that’s the question for your football team, then the answer doesn’t matter. I actually do think Brian Hoyer is a better bet for this season, however. Hoyer is positioned well with additional time off of his knee surgery. Again though, it just doesn’t matter.
In Madden parlance — on a good day — Brian Hoyer is a 79. I said on a good day. He very well could be lower 70’s or upper 60’s overall as a quarterback. Josh McCown is in the same ballpark at 83, but he’s older. In a given season either guy might be able to perform like a QB approximating upper 70’s or lower 80’s. If Josh McCown has a year that’s better than Brian Hoyer, you’re likely talking about one of them completely tanking anyway. If the best you can do is split hairs between two should-be backups and base your judgement on which one defies the odds and doesn’t tank, you should likely skip the exercise.
All this idle debate goes to show why the real conversation is all about Johnny Manziel. He was an utter failure in his rookie season including such a colossal lack of understanding of the playbook that he couldn’t get on the same page on running plays. That was about as disappointing as it could get for a first round quarterback with such a tremendous college resume, but it doesn’t mean much in the race for the top of the depth chart for the Browns. Even in not handing Manziel the starter’s job, they’re telling us that everything they’re doing is to set up Manziel to take over and be successful.
If you got Mike Pettine to talk to you over a couple of beers, he’d script the Browns’ season exactly like this: Josh McCown starts the season and the Browns win some games — the Browns win their first three against the Jets, Titans and Raiders (Remember I said Mike Pettine is scripting this.); the Browns start to struggle against the Chargers and Ravens and Johnny Manziel steps in to play for the Browns down the stretch. Win or lose, Manziel hits enough passes and puts enough drives together to make everyone feel like he’s given them something to build on moving forward.
It can’t be all about Josh McCown just like it couldn’t be all about Brian Hoyer a year ago, despite my calls to have the Browns give him a contract extension. The Browns can’t guarantee that Johnny Manziel will be successful, but they can guarantee that they put him in the very best possible scenarios to maximize his chances. From the drafting of Cameron Erving and Duke Johnson, to the signing of Josh McCown, the Browns have done a pretty good job. Even though they’re handing the ball to Josh McCown to start the season, they’ve put it in Manziel’s court.
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