The Cleveland Browns are saying what everyone is thinking, the starting quarterback for 2015 might not be on the roster right now. The team continues to have their quarterback drama headline the upcoming offseason as Brian Hoyer prepares for free agency and Johnny Manziel is getting his name in the paper for all the wrong reasons. With a new offensive coordinator in place, John DeFilippo is doubting the talent currently sitting on the team and is prepared to explore options to make the position better.
DeFilippo takes over for Kyle Shanahan who departed after getting angry over the front office's involvement in the offense. Now DeFilippo takes over a roster situation that sees a partially successful veteran preparing to leave and a high-profiled rookie making mistakes in the media. According to DeFilippo, neither may be the option going forward and owner Jimmy Haslam agrees.
"We've got to get a quarterback and got to get it fixed," Haslam said, via ESPN.com. "You can look at the teams whether they're in the final eight, the final four or the final two, you've got to have a really good quarterback. And our situation as Coach Pettine says is still muddy and we don't know who our quarterback is going to be next year. What I would say to our fans is we're going to continue to work really hard to find that quarterback who can make us a championship team. We're going to work hard 'til we get a quarterback who can help us win and win consistently, which we've stated since day one is our goal."
The Browns draft Manziel in hopes that he was the future of the position. However, the quarterback barely saw the field thanks to the success of Hoyer and when he did start he got injured and ended his season early. There is simply not enough tape on the rookie to determine what his NFL outlook is which is forcing Cleveland to make other moves. According to Mary Kay Cabot, the Browns are prepared to draft a quarterback and could make a deal for Marcus Mariota with their two first-round options.
Hoyer is also leaving the door open to return in free agency, but the veteran is making it clear that he only intends to sign with Cleveland if he will get a chance to be the starter in 2015. If not, he will head elsewhere. DeFilippo certainly is not ruling out Manziel as an option either. The two met after he was hired and the offensive coordinator says he is eager to work with the rookie.
"He flew out to Oakland and [I] spent a day with him," DeFilippo said. "Can you get an overview on a guy in a day? No. But you can get a grasp of what he thinks and how he's feeling and those things."
Manziel will be on the roster in 2015. Hoyer might not. Mariota might be joining on or the team could look towards Mark Sanchez, Jay Cutler or Ryan Mallett for quarterback help as well.
