The Cleveland Browns season is over. Josh McCown isn’t playing again. Johnny Manziel doesn’t deserve to play for them again. Austin Davis? What the hell, why not? It really doesn’t matter at this point.
The 2-9 Browns are going to finish where they’re used to – at the bottom of the AFC North, losing six games in a row since a 2-3 start. Manziel, who finally got a hold of the quarterback position so the Browns can finally decide if he’s good enough to keep developing showed that his off the field problems aren’t going away. Maybe he’s an alcoholic or maybe he’s just too fond of partying in comparison to the regular NFL quarterback. One thing’s sure: He isn’t doing enough great things on the field to make the Browns ignore his other activities, and lying to the team about it should seal his fate as a future franchise quarterback for the Browns.
So who is next? Austin Davis? He wasn’t too terrible for the St. Louis Rams last season with three wins in eight starts for the team, throwing 12 touchdown passes and nine interceptions while completing 63.4% of his passes. But the Browns, who moved Manziel to third-string quarterback following his partying and lying incident, have already said he’ll probably play again before the end of the season. How soon? That’s a mystery at the moment.
Davis wasn’t bad for the Browns in the 33-27 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, completing 7-of-10 passes with a 42-yard touchdown after coming in for McCown. He might give Mike Pettine the best chance of keeping his job, which has to be under threat right now, even if the Browns are where they are because of a lot more than just bad coaching. Manziel might still be part of the team’s future planning, but the goals have possibly changed for Pettine, worrying about his own skin. Suddenly, regardless of personality and honesty, maybe Davis is the best option to win games for a team that looks incapable of doing so.