Mike Pettine: Browns still need another QB outside of Johnny Manziel

Cleveland Browns coach Mike Pettine admits his team still needs a quarterback despite the presence of 2014 first-round pick Johnny Manziel.

While Johnny Manziel continues to improve both physically and mentally, it doesn’t excuse the fact the Cleveland Browns are quarterback-deficient, a reality coach Mike Pettine said to reporters on the eve of the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

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The team is still interested in bringing back Brian Hoyer, who started 13 games for the Browns last season and are open to acquiring a free agent (namely Josh McCown), yet Pettine didn’t sound very confident that Manziel, the team’s first-round pick last May will have any long-term prospects in Cleveland.

Manziel flopped miserably when given a chance to play late season, completing just 51.4 percent of his attempts for a mere 175 yards without throwing a touchdown pass. He missed the regular season finale after skipping a team meeting for reasons that eventually led him to a rehab center last month. The 2012 Heisman Trophy winner from Texas A&M showed little of the potential which made him the 22nd overall pick.

Pettine has visited Manziel during his rehab but did not go into detail about anything the two discussed. Regardless of whether the conversation sees the light of day, it’s become very obvious the Browns will be heavily scouting quarterbacks over the weekend.

With two first round picks (their own at 12 and the 19th via last year’s deal with the Bills), Cleveland will be in position to perhaps trade up should either Florida State’s Jameis Winston or Oregon’s Marcus Mariota slip past the first two selections. Still, it would be hard to fathom watching the Browns invest another first rounder on a quarterback considering that the team has major needs at wide receiver and on the offensive line.

The free agent route doesn’t offer much outside of re-signing Hoyer or bringing in McCown. Michael Vick, Colt McCoy, Christian Ponder, Ryan Mallett, Blaine Gabbert and Jake Locker are among the options the Browns have in front of them, which essentially becomes a trip to the Land of Misfit Signal Callers. Gabbert, Locker and Mallett were each selected in the top 12 picks of the 2011 draft, with the Jaguars taking Gabbert one pick before the Texans took some kid named J.J. Watt.

Cleveland has just one playoff trip since returning to the league in 1999; without an upgrade at quarterback, that stretch will continue. The Browns may miss on Winston or Mariota, but one can make a strong bet they will draft someone who could push Manziel either to improve or toward becoming Johnny Flop.

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