The drama surrounding Johnny Manziel continues to get worse. The quarterback's NFL tenure has started out with nothing but drama and continues with his first year in the league officially over. The Cleveland Browns are working through their quarterback issues and determining whether or not Manziel will be a part of it. The issue is the rookie quarterback is doing nothing to help build his case as the future starter of this team. Head coach Mike Pettine suggests the quarterback stop talking and start putting in the work.
Manziel spoke briefly with the team media and apologized for all of the reports that have surfaced about him in the recent week. The quarterback apologized for being late to walk-through, missing treatment and the reports that he thew a big party in Cleveland that caused the team to send security to find him. Pettine hears all of this talk, but says it is cheap if it is not backed up. According to Pettine, Manziel's "talk is cheap" which is leading to bigger question marks at the quarterback position.
"(Quarterback) is still very much a question mark,'' said Pettine, via Cleveland.com. "We all know Brian is due to become a free agent. The sample size on Manziel was not very big and, on the surface, not very encouraging. Connor Shaw went out there and battled. Here's a kid who was peeing blood last night. He took a shot in the kidney. He took some major shots in the game and got up. It's just a credit to him he wasn't coming out. He showed some things yesterday. I would say our quarterback situation is muddy at best and obviously will be - when we allocate time to discussing each position - quarterback will be given the most."
The issue with Cleveland is the expiring contract to Brian Hoyer and the two first-round draft picks they could easily package together for the No. 1 overall pick. Reports surfaced yesterday via the Cleveland Plain Dealer, that coaches are pushing for Hoyer to be re-signed while others believe the Browns, along with many others, are eyeing Marcus Mariota with that top pick.
The quarterback position is not the only question mark for the Browns. The team must decide what to do with Josh Gordon who was benched for the season finale. The troubled wide receiver started the year suspended and ended it on the sidelines as well. While Gordon is a true talent, the Browns must decide what his future looks like with the team and Pettine admits it is a little cloudy.
"Clearly a disappointing way for him to end the year," Pettine said, via NFL.com. "But at the same time, Josh right now is a Cleveland Brown. We want to take care of our own, but at the same time, we're gonna hold our guys accountable. I think everybody recognizes the talent that's there, but this isn't an individual sport. You have to be accountable to your coaching staff, you have to be accountable to your teammates, more importantly. That's the thing that we have to get (right) with Josh. It's not the ability. At some point, you get tired of using the word potential. So this offseason for him puts him squarely at a crossroads for us."
