Browns HC: Johnny Manziel, Brian Hoyer are competing
By Mike Dyce
The Cleveland Browns couldn’t resist Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel in the 2014 NFL Draft and traded up to the No. 22 slot to take him. That instantly put him in a quarterback controversy with Brian Hoyer, who had a successful stint last season until he tore his ACL, ending his season early. Hoyer is still operating under the assumption that he is the starter quarterback.
“Until someone tells me otherwise,” Hoyer said, via Pat McManamon of ESPN.com, “I feel like I’m the starter for this team.”
The Browns leadership gave Hoyer a “heads up” that they were drafting Manziel and Hoyer welcomed the challenge according to Pro Football Talk.
"The Browns texted Hoyer to give him a heads up about the forthcoming pick and Hoyer returned the message by telling the brass to “bring him on.”"
That is the kind of attitude Browns head coach Mike Pettine wants to see on the field, he doesn’t want the two players becoming friendly. Pettine wants to see the two push and challenge each other, forcing the other to play better if he wants to keep or earn the job.
“We don’t want guys who are going to be warm and fuzzy,” Pettine said Monday, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “They’re fighting for a job. It’s somebody you’re going to be working with. It’s a unique situation where you’re competitive, you want that job. It’s not going to be this warm and fuzzy (thing). That to me is how you want your quarterback to be.”
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Manziel is ready to compete and is coming in with that chip on his shoulder. Manziel knows nothing will be handed to him and he has to earn the spot.
“I’m a rookie,” Manziel said, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I need to earn my place. I need to earn my keep. I don’t need to be treated based off what I did in the past because that doesn’t mean a thing at this level. I was completely OK with hearing that from everybody. I don’t want to come in and have anything handed to me that I don’t deserve.
“I got passed up 21 times, so that says something. Getting passed up 21 times is never fun and obviously some of those teams weren’t going to take quarterbacks and we knew that going into it, but still, it’s even humbling to be the second quarterback off the board, so for them to come in and say that, I don’t think I need to be humbled. I realize where I’m at in this organization and what I need to be doing, and that’s all I’m really focused on.”
While competition would benefit the Browns, it will intrigue the national media. The Browns are limiting national media’s access to avoid a situation similar to that surrounding Tim Tebow and the New York Jets. Remember watching ESPN post up at their training camp and being treated to an endless loop of Tebow running through the rain with his shirt off.
“I don’t know how much of an effect it had, but I think what we’re planning to do is just limit it as best we can, not to encourage it,” Pettine said. “We know the fire is burning, but we just don’t want to throw gas on it.”