Browns’ Johnny Manziel getting 3rd string reps
By Mike Dyce
The Cleveland Browns traded up late in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft for Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. Instantly he was beloved by fans, and has even had songs written about him, besides that Drake one. Still, he hasn’t been anointed the starter yet, that honor is still going to veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer.
“Until someone tells me otherwise,” Hoyer said, via Pat McManamon of ESPN.com, “I feel like I’m the starter for this team.”
Manziel understands that he is a rookie and needs to compete for the starting job.
“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.
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“… 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.”
Head coach Mike Pettine has even encouraged competition between Hoyer and Manziel.
“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.”
So it comes as a bit of a surprise how far the Browns have Manziel down the depth chart. Hoyer took first team reps, and Manziel got third team reps according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.