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What Should Cleveland Browns Do With Johnny Manziel?

By Zac Wassink

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The Cleveland Browns have hired Hue Jackson as their new head coach, but how does this twist change the future of Johnny Manziel with the organization?

Johnny Manziel will never play another meaningful down of football for the Cleveland Browns. Just take a look around the Internet if you have any questions about that.

It is understandable why the Browns and new head coach Hue Jackson would want to wash their hands of the second-year quarterback and one-time Heisman Trophy winner. Manziel has not proven himself worth the headaches that he would bring to a new coaching staff and new front office. There are questions about his dedication to the Browns and to his NFL career. Heck, we’re not exactly sure where Manziel is at this very moment in time.

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The biggest knock on Manziel as it pertains to his play is that he is not, at this point, a franchise quarterback. Thus, Jackson is going to want to align himself with a QB that he drafted. That is nothing unique to this situation. Any new regime is going to want an opportunity to draft a potential franchise QB. The Browns have repeated this process over…and over…and over…and over…

You get the idea.

Even before the news broke that the Browns would be landing Jackson as the franchise’s next head coach, local sports talk radio personalities and journalists more than happy to boot Manziel out of Cleveland dropped hot takes that the Browns needed to announce as soon as possible that the club would be distancing itself from the troubled QB. That’s well and good, but it also serves as a reminder of why none of those people have jobs inside of a NFL front office.

The Browns making any decision on Manziel as of January 14, other than to see if he was OK and to try to push him back into a rehabilitation program, would be an emotional response that would be as silly as it would be unnecessary. Cleveland owns Manziel’s rights up through the end of the 2017 National Football League season. Manziel has, per Spotrac, a minimal cap hit when compared with other quarterbacks in the league.

Manziel also has value to the Browns regardless of what anybody has to say on the matter.

Here are some of the quarterbacks who played in Week 17 of this NFL season: Ryan Mallett. A.J. McCarron. Austin Davis. Brian Hoyer. Josh Freeman. Alex Tanney. Kellen Moore. Blaine Gabbert.

You honestly believe some NFL team wouldn’t be willing to at least consider taking a flier on Manziel a couple of months down the road?

Jackson understands that there is nothing to gain by he or the Browns burying Manziel right now, which is why he offered the following comments on the quarterback when speaking with reporters on Wednesday evening:

What do the Browns do with Manziel if no team comes calling for the quarterback by the time March comes to an end? They do nothing if they are smart about the matter. No NFL team has to finalize its roster before the end of spring or before the end of the 2016 NFL Draft. Having Manziel as a member of the club does not at all prevent the Browns from drafting a quarterback in any round.

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To put it another way: Manziel is basically Josh Gordon, a Browns player in name only as of the posting of this piece.

There are so many unknowns regarding the Manziel situation that those hypothesizing are essentially attempting to predict the weather a couple of months ahead of time. It seems safe to say that Jackson will not be keen on ever giving the keys of the offense to Manziel. Manziel and the Browns parting ways appears to be what is best for all parties.

How they part ways is the devil in the details.

So much can happen before the Browns have to make a definitive decision on Manziel. Perhaps Manziel will get the help that he (allegedly) needs en route to either turning his professional and personal lives around or deciding that playing in the NFL is not for him. Maybe he will go full “Johnny Football” to the point that he will do something that will get him suspended by the league.

We just don’t know.

Assume that those rumors about Manziel wanting to leave the Browns and head back to Texas and play for either the Dallas Cowboys or Houston Texans are accurate. Why should the Browns go out of the way to make Manziel’s dreams come true? It is Jackson and the Browns and not Manziel who have the power here. Jackson could even decide to banish Manziel as Jay Gruden did to Robert Griffin III during what will likely be Griffin’s final season with the Washington Redskins.

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The Browns have not, since returning to the NFL as an expansion club in 1999, had a player who elicits such emotional responses from fans and media members quite like Manziel. Manziel has been beloved and reviled. He was a savior and a menace. Manziel is now likely gone, just another failed draft pick who joins the likes of Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden, Colt McCoy and so many others.

How Manziel leaves should benefit the Browns if that is at all possible, which is why making a final decision before absolutely necessary would be a waste.

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