If we have not already done so, we might as well go right ahead and call the drafting of Johnny Manziel by the Cleveland Browns a complete disaster. Of course, for the Browns, this is just business as usual. The latest blow to the Manziel era in Cleveland came today when Browns head coach Mike Pettine announced fourth-year quarterback Austin Davis will get his first career start on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Pettine is going to go on a week-by-week basis for the remainder of the season when it comes to the starting quarterback, so there is still a chance Manziel works his way into the starting line-up before the end of the season in Cleveland.
“These are two players that we both want to see play. That is the bottom line,” Pettine said in explaining the rationale behind the decision. “I don’t want to declare, ‘Hey, this is what it is going to be from here on out.’ These are two young quarterbacks that have upside and we want to see what that upside is. Austin is the guy for this week.”
Davis has appeared in 11 games and has thrown 13 touchdowns with nine interceptions dating back to 2014. He has been sacked 30 times in that time as well. And this was the guy who got the starting nod ahead of Manziel after Cleveland lost Josh McCown to a season-ending injury. What does Johnson have that Manziel lacks? The mentality to lead the team, in the words of Pettine.
“A big part of it with Austin is the mental. He is as prepared as any quarterback that I have been around,” Pettine said. “He is relentless in that way. I think he goes into games in his mind I think processing speed that he has rehearsed it so many times in his head that I think he gets the ball out and is decisive maybe quicker than some other guys. I think that is one where we see the skill set is the intangible stuff, two, the guys around him, respect him and they see how passionate he is.”
You can read that as a veiled shot at Manziel’s lack of football mentality to be a starter in the NFL, and I certainly view it no other way. Pettine and Manziel have never really been on the same page in Cleveland, and Manziel’s off-field drama has not helped the cause either. It may not be too late for Manziel to turn his career around, although it never really got off on the right foot anyway since being drafted in the first round of the 20-14 NFL Draft. But if Manziel can’t make a case to be the starting quarterback at all down the stretch of this 2015 season, then what the Browns do with him in the offseason will be under a bright microscope.
