Cleveland Browns organized team activities

The Browns already have plays to fit the mobile style of Johnny Manziel.

(John Kuntz / The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Wonder what the national media's storyline would have been if the Browns had named Johnny Manziel the starter on draft night -- and talked about how the offense was going to be built around Johnny Football.

Would they claim the Browns were playing right into Manziel's already overblown sense of entitlement?

Would they insist the franchise is so desperate for positive publicity, that it was expecting too much, too soon? Especially from a 5-foot-11 quarterback who was the 22nd pick -- not the No. 1 pick -- in the draft?

No matter what the Browns do with Manziel, there will be a large, loud chorus in the media insisting that the Browns don't know what they are doing.

After all, they are the Browns.

Understand that the Browns too often have been a football embarrassment. It's become a place where general managers and coaches go to have their reputations sideswiped followed by a quick firing.

At least they are well-paid for it; checks coming in years after they've checked out of Cleveland.

Furthermore, the Ray Farmer group is the fifth front office in the last seven years to run a Browns draft. So everything they do will be questioned and doubted.



Most of the teeth-gnashing centers on two topics:



1. Owner Jimmy Haslam proclaimed Manziel a backup to Brian Hoyer.



2. Rookie camp was closed to the national media, and the local media only was permitted to see one session of 15 minutes.



ESPN's Dan Graziano wrote: "I wouldn't be so quick to write off this Browns/Manziel stuff, because I think it's a major red flag for the team's ability to handle its young star quarterback, and for his chances to succeed in Cleveland. The Browns' sloppy messaging on Manziel absolutely matters, because it reveals potential flaws in a leadership structure that's going to be essential to the management of Manziel's career."



Let's deal for a moment with the closing of rookie minicamp to the national media. Was it a bit silly? Probably. Did it really matter? Not at all.



So the Browns tried to limit access and control the message. What a shock! That's never happened in the NFL before, right?



This week, an entire OTA practice was open to all media outlets, local and national. Wednesday's session lasted about two hours.



One writer talked about the "iron curtain" around Manziel.



Oh, please ...



Come the real training camp in the summer, those practices will be open to the public and the media. During the regular season, Browns quarterbacks meet with the media on Wednesdays and after games. Been that way from Tim Couch to Kelly Holcomb to Brandon Weeden. That will probably be the case with Manziel.



Jean-Jacques Taylor (ESPN-Dallas) wrote: "Manziel will not become the star the Cleveland faithful expect if Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and head coach Mike Pettine don't give him latitude on the field and with the media.

They banned the national media from the minicamp and limited the local media to a few minutes of watching the rookie go through a few drills ... This is after owner Jimmy Haslam popped off about Manziel being a backup and needing to understand his role. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb."

It's not a big deal if Johnny Manziel (2) watches Brian Hoyer start early in the season.

Maybe I'm the moron when it comes to the handling of Manziel. Maybe coddling of a young college superstar is the best approach to his rookie year as a pro. But I say, "Make him beat out Brian Hoyer. Challenge him."

Yes, Tyler Thigpen took some snaps in front of Manziel at Wednesday's OTA.



I watched Thigpen throw the ball. I watched Manziel throw the ball. I don't think we are entering the Tyler Thigpen Era, so people can just relax.



Manziel arrives with enormous hype -- and pressure.



Not just on the kid from Texas A&M, but on Farmer and Pettine. Their immediate futures will greatly be determined on how they handle the quarterback position. No matter who starts the opener (Hoyer or Manziel), it will be the 11th different quarterback in the last 15 years.



Does anyone honestly believe that Kyle Shanahan is designing an offense for Manziel to stand in the pocket and heave the ball down field as if he were the second coming of Dan Marino?



This is the same Kyle Shanahan who creatively moved Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins around the field in a variety of rollouts for Washington in the previous two seasons.



Many of Manziel's throws on Wednesday were on the move, and it was in a designed offense.



And does anyone really want "Johnny being Johnny" if that means he's going to put his shoulder down and challenge a 250-pound linebacker for a few extra yards?



Farmer and Pettine know the guys in their jobs last season were fired after a year. They want Manziel to succeed. If that means playing some games behind Hoyer, so be it. Hey, Manziel didn't even have a full playbook at Texas A&M, they had weekly game plans. Everything is new to him right now.



One last note that few media people would know outside of Cleveland...



Only once since 1999 has the same Browns quarterback started all 16 games. That was Tim Couch in 2001.



In 2013, the Browns had THREE starting quarterbacks. And THREE in 2012. And THREE in 2010. And FOUR in 2008. In fact, TWO is the minimum most seasons.



So Manziel will get his chance, probably sooner than later. With the Browns backup quarterback, that happens nearly every year.





