Just when Johnny Manziel started getting comfortable as the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns he goes ahead and gets himself benched for partying during the bye week and letting it leak online, which made the Browns pull another 180, something they’re very good at, and put Josh McCown in the driver’s seat again.
Playing with McCown might mean a slightly better quarterback right now for the Browns, but overall it does nothing good for the franchise. McCown is here for the now, just for things to coast over. He’s not anyone’s first or even second choice, and the fact that he’s once again starting for the Browns shows how much the franchise is disappointed in Manziel, and maybe close to giving up on him just when they were finally giving him a nice, long consecutive run as the starting quarterback.
There’s nothing new to say about Manziel at this point. I, and probably most of the media don’t know enough about him as a person to start classifying him as an addict or anything of the sorts, but he seems to be unable to keep himself out of trouble. Teams want someone they can trust and maybe even control as their quarterback, the most important singular position in all of team sports. Manziel time and time again throws the opportunities given to him into the wind, as if the only thing that really matters is the partying and good life off the field.
As a college quarterback, he was absolutely incredible to watch for two years. As an NFL quarterback, he hasn’t been very impressive since entering the league. But this position requires more than just skill. It’s about maturity and the ability to learn from mistakes quickly. Both on the field and off the field Manziel hasn’t done a very good job at that, and maybe even the Browns, who are used to slow, fruitless rebuilding process, might run out of patience with him pretty soon.