Browns GM Ray Farmer says Johnny Manziel seems 'dialed in and focused'

Ray Farmer talks Browns QBs, praises Johnny Manziel and Josh McCown

Most of the major offseason moves have been made, and as the dust has settled, the Cleveland Browns seem to be soldiering on into 2015 with Josh McCown and Johnny Manziel as their quarterbacks.

Please, hold your laughter until the end, fans of other teams.

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Months of rumors (most of which involved newly drafted Titans QB Marcus Mariota) have gone for naught, as the only move the Browns have made at the game’s most crucial position has been to swap out one mediocre veteran quarterback (Brian Hoyer) for another (McCown).

In a recent appearance on NFL Network’s NFL Total Access, Browns GM Ray Farmer put a positive spin on things, praising McCown for his experience and Manziel for his new attitude.

Manziel spent last year looking utterly lost on the field amid rumors that he was unprepared, while sounding a bit like a train wreck off the field. The former Heisman Trophy winner recently exited rehab, and Farmer says thing have been going well for the second-year pro since then.

“Johnny’s been good since he’s been around the Browns family,” Farmer said. “I commend the young man for taking the necessary steps that he felt were needed to take. That being said, since he’s been back here, he’s been good. He’s doing everything he’s been asked to do. He seems dialed in and focused and that’s what it’s about, making football his first priority for us on this end, but, again, inevitably, we’re really focused on making sure the young man has his life together.”

When asked what made the Browns target McCown in free agency, Farmer praised the veteran’s experience at the position.

“I think it’s the experience factor,” he said. “When you look at Josh McCown, the guy’s played in the National Football League, he’s had his relative glimpses of success and, for us, we like the fact that his skill set [fits] what he can accomplish in this offense.”

High praise indeed. Farmer was asked what made the Browns sign McCown to a three year, $14 million contract, and the best he can manage is “the guy’s played in the National Football League?” You know who else has played in the National Football League, Ray? Every single NFL player.

So it looks like the battle at quarterback for Cleveland will come down to two guys who have played in the National Football League. One of them, when he was playing in the NFL, went 1-10 as a starter for the league’s worst team, and is also 35 and has never been good, aside from one outlier year with the Bears. The other, while he was playing the NFL, passed for 80 yards in his debut as a starter and looked more like a running back pressed into emergency service at quarterback than a first-round pick.

In other words, sounds like another fun year for the Browns.

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Browns GM Ray Farmer says Johnny Manziel seems ‘dialed in and focused’

By Stanford Crissey | May 6, 2015

Ray Farmer talks Browns QBs, praises Johnny Manziel and Josh McCown

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