Throughout the entire offseason, it was clear that the Cleveland Browns were prepared to start Josh McCown under center with 2014 first-round pick Johnny Manziel riding the pine. While that still may very well be the case, Manziel's impressed the team enough for it to consider him an option as a starter.
The impression Manziel gave Friday evening during the team's 11-on-11 scrimmage magnifies this even further. The embattled second-year quarterback completed 9-of-11 passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns in the scrimmage.
Speaking up about his performance on Friday night, Manziel didn't seem too excited:
“I wouldn’t make a huge deal about it, but it’s progress for me,” the enigmatic quarterback said. “It’s better than I played last year in the scrimmage. A year later, there’s a lot of progress. I’m happy about it and happy about stringing some good days together. That’s what I wanted to do.”
After what was a drama-filled first year that saw him in the news for all the wrong reasons, Manziel entered alcohol rehab early this year—a stint that lasted almost two months. Once he returned to the real world, his entire focus was on minding his Ps and Qs off the field while improving as a quarterback on the field. This all came during a time when the Browns indicated more than once that free-agent signing Josh McCown was the team's starting quarterback.
With his disastrous rookie season clearly behind him, it's obvious that Manziel has improved both on the field and off the field. For the Browns, that's enough to warrant first-team reps during the preseason.
After seeing Manziel work with the second team during Friday's scrimmage, Browns head coach Mike Pettine had this to say about the potential of the former Heisman winner getting first-team action in the preseason:
“With guys who were nicked up and not able to go, we just couldn’t get them both enough reps,” Pettine said. “It’ll happen in the preseason game, but the way we were depleted with injuries and being cautious with guys, there was just no way to do it without putting other guys at risk.”
Let's be honest for a second here. McCown offers practically no upside for the Browns' offense. His sole task will be to play game manager while avoiding turnovers. As it relates to Manziel, his upside is nearly unlimited. Though, he's a much bigger turnover risk and has yet to prove he can move the ball on a consistent basis in a real game.
None of this means that Manziel has a real chance of starting when Week 1 comes calling. Instead, it's simply an indication that he's impressed the Browns enough to take first-team reps from McCown in the tune-up games. Without reading too much into this, it's a solid step for the second-year signal caller.