Brian Hoyer is thriving right now with the Cleveland Browns. The quarterback entered the season as the guaranteed starting quarterback, but had to deal with the presence of Johnny Manziel and the spotlight that the rookie brought with him. However, Hoyer kept quiet and went about his business. Now, the Browns are winning games and it is all thanks to the veteran.
Hoyer entered an important game against the Tennessee Titans and came out victorious. The quarterback orchestrated a second-half comeback win, getting two touchdowns in the fourth quarterback to beat the Titans. While Hoyer's starting job was not necessarily in doubt, the Browns were pushing for the quarterback to real take hold of the starting spot and make it his own. Hoyer did just that and now questions are starting to rise about just how necessary Johnny Manziel is on the roster.
Through four games, Hoyer has 1,008 yards and six touchdowns with just one interception to his name. The Browns are not blowing teams out of the water with their high-powered offense, but they are certainly doing enough to win games. With the 28-year-old play well and efficient right now, Manziel likely will not be seeing the field which is putting is making him expendable.
Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer notes that it is right to question the value of having Manziel on the roster. Hoyer is likely to get his contract extended with the team given he is a very capable veteran and those types of players are true assets to any team. If the Browns do not keep Hoyer, someone will pick him up.
After that, the Browns have to decide which direction to take the team in. Cleveland has two first-round draft picks to work with in a year that is strong on quarterback talent. Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston and Brent Hundley will all be heading to the NFL and are expected to have the talent to be an immediate starter. Manziel does not have enough playing time to be truly evaluated at the quarterback position nor will he get the playing time. The Browns need to be certain that Manziel is the right quarterback for long-term success in order to pass up on some of the quality entering the 2015 Draft. They might not see enough out of him to make that call.
