Johnny Manziel's rookie season is officially over. The Cleveland Browns quarterback suffered a hamstring injury that has ruled him out for the Week 17 after getting just barely two starts under his belt. With Brian Hoyer also injured, the Browns will be placing their faith in either Connor Shaw or Tyler Thigpen, whichever player looks the most ready. That is the short-term answer at quarterback, but does Manziel's injury hurt the long-term outlook as well?
Manziel's NFL season was brief. His total stats for the year were 18 completions on 35 passes for 175 yards. He orchestrated 15 drives while only one resulted in a touchdown. The rookie suffered a hamstring injury in the loss to the Carolina Panthers that will leave him out of the regular season finale and could hurt how the Browns evaluate him as a future starter. While the rookie stresses that this only motivates him for the future, head coach Mike Pettine admits there is not a lot to go off of when it comes to evaluating Manziel as a franchise quarterback.
"The sample size is tough," Pettine said, via ESPN.com. "Going back and looking at it, he did some good things ... It is unfortunate he got hurt."
It is no secret the Browns have an interesting quarterback debacle brewing for them in the offseason. Hoyer will be a free agent and is expected to leave according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. They need to bring on another option, but do the Browns target a potential starter or potential backup to Manziel? According to Mary Kay Cabbot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Browns are liking the idea of drafting Marcus Mariota to push the quarterback competition.
Making the jump to get Mariota seems crazy, but it is possible for Cleveland. The Browns will have two mid-first round draft picks in 2015. They will somewhere between No. 10 and No. 20. Cleveland could very easily package both first-round picks and get the No. 1 overall pick to grab the Oregon quarterback. The Browns must first determine just how invested they are in Manziel as their future star or if it is worth giving up top position players for another quarterback.
There are certainly quality free agent options ranging from Colt McCoy to Ryan Mallett to Mark Sanchez. Or Cleveland could attempt to convince Hoyer to re-sign for another two years or so. They have options, but decisions will stem on the final evaluation of Manziel.
