Brian Hoyer is the likely Week One starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. He’s a smart game-manager who makes quick decisions. He’s a good hold-the-fort guy, to borrow an old Bill Parcells expression, until Johnny Manziel is ready.
Honestly, I don’t think anybody knows how this Manziel thing is going to work out, whether his improvisational-style will work on the NFL level.
Most college defensive backfields are awful. The windows to throw into are much bigger. The street-yard ball that Manziel and 6-5 receiver Mike Evans (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) executed so well in college, likely won’t translate to the NFL.
The other big concern is his frame. He’s under 6-0 and just 207 pounds. Running around like a crazy-man in a league with bigger and faster defenders, could lead to an injury-prone career. We shall see.
Another concern is that he will get a lot of passes batted down due to his height and 3/4 throwing delivery.
Browns fans can only hope that owner Jimmy Haslam didn’t force his football people to make this pick, like when the late Bud Adams forced his brass in Tennessee to pick Vince Young.
When owners make football decisions, the end result often isn’t good. The New England Patriots program really started to take off when Robert Kraft backed away from picking players.
There is all this talk about how the pick will help the Browns at the gate and in merchandise sales. You don’t make personnel decisions for those reasons. In all fairness, it can’t be proven at this point that marketing drove the decision. But if it did, it was a mistake. because ultimately winning is the best marketing tool. If you pick good players, and you win, it’s the best business plan possible.
Whether it’s Charlie Casserly or Jon Gruden or Todd McShay – nobody knows how this is going to turn out. It’s bona fide mystery whether Manziel’s game will translate to the next level.
It will be fun to see if this works out.
