Johnny Manziel Calls Out Ex-Cleveland Browns QB for Deplorable Attitude

To say that Johnny Manziel’s time with the Cleveland Browns was a disappointment would be a massive understatement. In fact, Manziel’s fall from grace is one of the most fascinating storylines we’ve witnessed in recent memory.

There were so many factors that led to Manziel falling terribly short of the massive expectations everyone had of him when Cleveland selected him in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft. As it turns out, one former teammate may have played an integral role in his struggles as well.

Johnny Manziel Throws Ex-Cleveland Browns Teammate Brian Hoyer Under the Bus

That man is former Cleveland quarterback Brian Hoyer, who was the Browns’ heralded QB1 during Manziel’s rookie season. According to Johnny Football, Hoyer’s apparent lack of support played a key role in Manziel’s inability to adjust in the big leagues:

“My quarterback room was not a home for me because of Brian Hoyer,” Manziel said in an interview with Shannon Sharpe on the latter’s Club Shay Shay podcast (h/t Justin Leger of NBC Sports Boston). “Brian Hoyer had been waiting on an opportunity to go really provide for his family, get an opportunity and he saw how much of an upper hand he had on me, and he didn’t hold back when it came to that.

“There were instances in the quarterback room early on where I would ask the same question a couple of times and he’d be at the head of the table and go, ‘Pfft, again? We’re doing this again? Keep him out of it. Cut that off.’ And I don’t have a bad word to say about Brian Hoyer. That is just fact of what happened in that room.”

To be fair to Manziel, he did admit that it was ultimately his own shortcomings that led to his fall. However, this hasn’t prevented him from pretty much throwing Hoyer under the bus.

So much so, that Manziel claims that even the other Cleveland quarterbacks during his time would agree with his assessment of Hoyer’s attitude:

“Go ask (former Browns QB) Connor Shaw, who played at South Carolina and was with us in Cleveland. Go ask him how Brian Hoyer was in that room. Go ask (former Browns QBs coach) Dowell Loggains how he was in that room,” Manziel said. “And it’s OK, but at that point in time where I was and I’m the franchise guy, I could have used a little help.”

He could have used A LOT of help.

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Cleveland Browns Free Agency Preview – Backup Cornerbacks

In this daily series Jack Duffin & the OBR team will be taking a look at every single free agent and if/how they fit the Cleveland Browns upcoming needs this offseason.

In this daily series we will look at all of the 633 unrestricted free agents that are set to hit the market on the 11th March at noon ET, this is when teams can begin negotiating with them. Despite this, many deals will be negotiated before that time, with the combine seen as the kick off of the unofficial tampering period. There will be some that don’t make it there due to either being franchise tagged before the 4pm ET deadline on the 5th March or being extended by their current team.

Before anyone throws their toys out the pram and moans why are we covering x position when we don’t need a player there. It is important to look at every area of a roster as what you can get in free agency easily shapes what you do with extensions, trades and the draft.

A team like the Cleveland Browns are using free agency and trades to fill any starting spots on the roster as they are competing to win now and not looking to develop a starter as the season goes along. They are going to use their backup and depth spots to develop starters for the future, so when Andrew Berry is making draft picks later in the offseason keep an eye on who they might replace next year.

We will be discussing all the unrestricted free agent names across all the different positions and explaining why we believe players are targets or not and some that are in the grey area that intrigue us. Players who are restricted free agents and exclusive free agents aren’t included because they are unlikely to make it to free agency this is because they regularly return and this shouldn’t be a focus.