Johnny Manziel won’t open Browns training camp as No. 1 QB
By Josh Hill
The NFL offseaosn is starting to wind down and enter the training camp phase which signals that the regular season is almost here. With free agency and the draft now well behind us, teams are starting to hammer out rough drafts of their depth charts and that means plenty of notable names shifting around on rosters.
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One team that has a lot of eyes on them are the Cleveland Browns. After finding a diamond in the rough with Brian Hoyer last season, the team drafted the most popular college quarterback in the game today as Johnny Manziel was selected no. 22 overall last month. But while he’s a popular figure, he’s not going to be handed the keys to the Browns franchise simply because he’s Johnny Football.
According to Marc Sessler from NFL Network’s Around The League, the Browns may be touting Johnny Manziel and his chances of possibly winning the starting job, but it will be Hoyer entering training camp as the No. 1 quarterback.
"Coach Mike Pettine told reporters Thursday that rookie Johnny Manziel will stare up at Brian Hoyer when training camp opens next month.“When we put the depth chart together, Brian will be No. 1,” Pettine said, per NFL Media’s Aditi Kinkhabwala."
This is both the right move and the expected move by the Browns who have been going out of their way to bust Manziel down to size all offseason long. He was never going to be the No. 1 guy heading into training camp, but that doesn’t mean he can’t eventually win the job.
Browns coach Mike Pettine has gone on record as saying the lead Hoyer has on Manziel isn’t insurmountable, which seems to be foreshadowing an inevitable move we all can see coming.