As I write this piece to all of you, I will not pretend to be a sports guru like Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless do every day on ESPN First Take. However, I will proudly say that I am a loyal fan of the Cleveland Browns, and I will not shy away from giving my opinion on this issue that has bothered me for years.
It is not surprising to see the Browns face yet another controversy in the quarterback position. In recent years, the Browns have struggled to find a long-longterm solution at QB as they have rotated between 16 quarterbacks within the last decade. Here, we see a situation that involves the young Johnny Manziel, marketable Heisman trophy winner, and a below-average NFL veteran quarterback in the form of Josh McCown. A year and a half ago, one of these men was busy partying it up and drinking away at his amazing football wizardry while receiving endless booty calls from absolute dimes. At the same time, the other was making millions a year to occasionally rotate in as quarterback for a decent Chicago Bears team.
Let’s take a step back for a second. From knowing these things alone, we can rightfully claim that Josh McCown has a higher maturity on and off the field than Johnny Manziel.
Despite this, I will go out on a limb to say it is absolutely blasphemous (that’s right, Stephen A, I took your word) for the Cleveland Browns to even consider starting McCown over Manziel. Unlike Ohio State’s situation, where Urban Meyer is rightfully stuck between two great quarterbacks in Cardale Jones and JT Barret, it is very obvious who the Browns should be starting here.
Many NFL analysts have used Johnny’s great performance in the Browns' week-two victory against the Titans as an argument to hand Manziel the starting position.
The sketchy, yet surprisingly reliable, celebrity gossip station known as TMZ has revealed the Browns players have also vouched for Manziel as they dissed the decision to start McCown. The players all spoke anonymously as one went against the decision saying, “It's f**ked up when you have Johnny come in and play well and has proven to the team that he is the right person for the job.”
Evidently, the football experts and the players stand in agreement that Johnny’s week-two performance has earned him the starting spot. I agree with this reasoning; however, I think there is a much more important reason the Browns should hand the starting position to Manziel.
Ever since resuming operations in 1999, the Browns have only had two winning seasons and have only made the playoffs once (in 2002). Within the last 10 years, the Browns have gone through five coaches — all with losing records. Furthermore, as we come upon the 50th Super Bowl, the Browns are one of only four franchises that have never made it to the Super Bowl.
It is time for a change. It is time for the Cleveland Browns to be more ambitious. The last opportunity the Browns had a chance to change the direction of the franchise occurred in 2013, when Chip Kelly started interviewing for head-coaching jobs in the NFL. Instead of making a strong approach for Chip, the Browns, in their typical fashion, settled for a lesser option and chose to hire the inexperienced Rob Chudzinksi.
While I am still upset the Browns chose not to hire Chip Kelly, there is still another opportunity to change the direction of the franchise. The change starts with Johnny Football. The franchise may see this as a risk, but it is time the Browns start taking more risks instead of settling for meagerness. Starting Manziel would definitely bring more ambition to the team than a proven below-average quarterback would. While Manziel's style of play is a bit unorthodox, I believe unorthodox is something that Cleveland could really use. After all, orthodox with the Browns is synonymous with being poor.
It's time for a change. Start Manziel. Just freaking do it.
