A week after declaring that Johnny Manziel would be the team’s starting quarterback for the rest of the season, the Browns announced today that Josh McCown is returning to the starting lineup for Week 12. The decision comes in the wake of head coach Mike Pettine telling reporters that he was “very” disappointed in Manziel after video footage surfaced of the second-year QB partying at a nightclub in Austin, Texas.
“Josh McCown will be the starting quarterback on Monday night against the Ravens,” Pettine said in a statement. “I informed the quarterbacks of that decision after I sat down and spoke with Johnny, Flip (John DeFilippo) and Kevin (O’Connell) after practice today. Johnny will be the third quarterback. I’ve spoken to Ray (Farmer) and Jimmy (Haslam) to inform them of my decision, and they are in full support.
“Everyone in this organization wants what is best for Johnny just like we do for every player in our locker room. I’m especially disappointed in his actions and behavior because he has been working very hard. The improvements from last year to this year have been tremendous but he still has to consistently demonstrate that he has gained a good understanding of what it takes to be successful at the quarterback position on this level. It goes well beyond the field. We are going to continue to support him in every way possible, but at this point, we’ve decided it’s best to go with Josh as the starter going forward.”
Not only will Manziel not be starting this Monday, but he’ll find himself third on the depth chart. According to the club, Austin Davis will be McCown’s backup, and will be the next man up if the veteran struggles or goes down with an injury.
In the wake of Manziel’s latest off-field incident, his future in Cleveland has become increasingly murky. While he remains under contract through the 2017 season, with a team option for 2018, Manziel appears to be running out of chances to become the long-term answer at the quarterback spot for the Browns.
It’s time to cut bait and put an end to this embarrassment! And I don’t mean the Johnny Football experiment. I mean the complete failure of the new Browns in Cleveland…..thanks to inept ownership, management, coaches, draft evaluators and mostly to Adolf Goodell and the NFL. It has
been clear from day one that the NFL did not want another team here and has done everything in their power to keep them a losing team year in and year out. It’s obvious to anyone that watched football on Sunday’s that the league and the officials get the outcomes they want and it’s obvious the Browns destiny is to lose. I’ve given up on all NFL football viewing, buying paraphanelia and giving a shit about anything to do with anything associated with the NFL. And I found that there’s a lot of stuff you can do on Sunday’s when not wasting time watching overpaid thugs, drug addicts, women beating, whining millionaires playing for the same type but billionaires! Screwed all.
Doesn’t giving up on everything that has to do with football include commenting on football threads?
I imagine every underclass quarterback with 1st round potential is reconsidering applying for the draft. Being drafted by Cleveland is cruel future for a young man.
Johnny football could be a Russell Wilson type QB if he’s in the right organization and that’s not Cleveland. The Browns have been the hottest mess for the past 15 plus years. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Johnny football in a cowboys jersey next season
About as rough as it’s been for Browns II, this development sets them back further. Going nowhere but into another top-10 pick — top 5 if they’re smart — the Browns were going to correctly use this season’s remainder as Manziel’s audition. Playing McCown does them no good to see if Manziel’s remotely worth what they paid to acquire him. McCown’s a stopgap; a low-level one at that. I don’t think Manziel’s close to being competent in the NFL and didn’t when the Browns selected him, but Cleveland had nothing to lose by finding out in these next six games. If this latest incident closed this window, they may never know. They’ll almost have to select a quarterback now in Round 1, which would be embarrassing even by today’s standards — three first-round QBs in four years.