Brian Hoyer is reportedly “securely ahead” of Johnny Manziel for the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback job.
Browns head coach Mike Pettine says Hoyer will enter training camp as the team’s starting QB. However, Pettine didn’t rule out Johnny Football on if he can close the gap and win over Hoyer while in camp.
“I don’t think it’s insurmountable,” Pettine said on the final day of Browns minicamp. “I think that Brian is securely ahead of him right now, but we will compete and we will decide.”
Pettine says Hoyer’s experience with the team gives him the nod over Manziel for the starting job for now.
“The rookies haven’t been here very long,” Pettine said. “They’re playing catch-up from a playbook standpoint. At this point, we really weren’t keeping score. We’ll be much more apt to do that when we get to training camp.”
Manziel will be getting a ton of playing time still, though. Pettine says he will get first-team reps and will get playing time with the starters in the preseason just like Hoyer will.
“If a guy has a chance to be a starter, I would think you’d want to expose him to a starting defense,” Pettine said.
The consensus was that Manziel would be the starter once he was drafted, until the Browns said he should “start acting like a backup.” It still appears to many that Manziel will get the starting job.
We’ll just have to see how training camp and the preseason play out in these next few months.