AP

Josh McCown is firmly entrenched as the Browns’ starting quarterback, and he likes it that way.

McCown said he thinks that if he were competing with Johnny Manziel for the starting job, it would be a distraction that took away from the work the team is doing this offseason.

“More than anything, for me, I just believe it takes away from any kind of distraction that you can have and the team can just move in one direction, regardless of who that guy is,” McCown told Cleveland.com. “It’s helpful to just say, ‘this is our guy until something happens and he’s not our guy.’ But I agree with that philosophy and that approach. It doesn’t take anything away from our group and it doesn’t take away from what Johnny and Thad [Lewis] and Connor [Shaw] are doing. We’re all working together.”

McCown has been on the other side of it: In 2013, he played so well in relief of the injured Jay Cutler that many in Chicago thought McCown should have remained the starter even after Cutler healed. But McCown always insisted that he was the backup, and that the starting job was Cutler’s.

And now McCown is staying consistent to that philosophy. Now the Browns need McCown to play well enough to avoid a quarterback controversy.