As the Browns sat down early this offseason to figure out where to go with their offense following the departure of coordinator Kyle Shanahan, one name was an afterthought: Johnny Manziel.
That’s the word from Chris Mortensen of ESPN, who says that when the Browns started putting together their new offense under new coordinator John DeFilippo, Manziel didn’t seem to be part of the equation.
“I think about 90 percent that they have moved on [from Manziel] in their own minds except that they really don’t know who they’re going to get when Johnny leaves rehab, which has been an extended stay — a two-month stay,” Mortensen said, via the News-Herald. “He should be getting out some time in the first week of April if they’re satisfied that he’s ready to go out and get into society and that whatever deep-rooted problems that he had has been addressed. The bottom line is that Johnny Manziel’s future with the Browns has been in question. When they were putting together half of a new offensive staff, Manziel’s name barely even came up in conversation.”
Ordinarily, if a team is hiring a new offensive coordinator a year after spending a first-round draft pick on a quarterback, there’s nothing more important for the team to know than the coordinator’s plans for that quarterback. If DeFilippo has no plans at all for Manziel, that’s a very bad sign for his future with the franchise.
But from all indications, the Browns currently consider Josh McCown their starting quarterback. And the Browns may even try to add another quarterback, like Sam Bradford or Marcus Mariota. Manziel looks like little more than an afterthought.