NFL Free Agency Rumors: Cleveland Browns will meet with Brian Hoyer

Brian Hoyer will meet with the Cleveland Browns over a contract extension.

Even though he lost his job to Johnny Manziel late in the NFL season, the Cleveland Browns have interest in bringing back Brian Hoyer. For a little while in 2013 and the first few weeks of 2014, Hoyer seemed to be the long-term answer in Cleveland.

Granted, it was more or less the talent around him winning games, but he was a decent game-manager.

However towards the end of the 2014 season, Hoyer started to look incapable of being the starter quarterback in Cleveland, which is something that has been the case with many Browns quarterbacks over the years.

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With Manziel going to rehab, the Browns really are stuck once again at the quarterback position. They are reportedly bringing in Josh McCown for a visit in the coming days, but the fact of the matter is that Hoyer knows this system better and although he may not be better than McCown, he would be just fine as a stopgap type of player.

The Browns aren’t competing for the division in 2015. That being said, the Browns should be smart until next year’s draft to bring in a quarterback. Is it worth mortgaging away their future on Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston? They both are intriguing talents, neither of them will be able to beat Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, or even Andrew Luck in the near future.

Pro Football Talk was the first to report the news of Hoyer and general manager Ray Farmer likely meeting. By all means, Hoyer isn’t going to bring divisional titles to this team, but he his familiar with the Browns and he has worked with the players on this roster for two years now. The best thing the Browns can do right now is beef up their offensive line and establish a dynamic running game. That will relieve Hoyer and take tons of pressure off him as well.

The Browns need to be smart this offseason and bringing back Hoyer will get ridiculed by many, but it does make sense both for the short-term and for the long-term.

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