That homeless guy in Cleveland shouldn’t get comfortable . . . in the home he doesn’t have.
ESPN’s Merril Hoge has called for whoever drafted quarterback Johnny Manziel to be fired. After the Browns traded up from No. 26 to No. 22 to get Manziel, owner Jimmy Haslam told ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio that Haslam became convinced Cleveland fans wanted the man known as Johnny Football when a homeless man told Haslam, “Draft Manziel.”
"[W]hoever drafted him in Cleveland, they need to be fired,” Hoge said on ESPN, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Because it’s unfair to the kid. He has sixth-round talent but first-round hype, and you draft him there and now regardless of what happens from here on out, he will be expected to play like a first-rounder and that’s unfair to him.
“He doesn’t have the skill set to withstand that expectation and that’s not his fault, it’s the Cleveland Browns’ for drafting him that high.”
Hoge doesn’t see things ending well for Manziel and the Browns.
“This will be the saddest, quickest ending we have seen in quite some time,” Hoge said in September, via Cabot. “It’ll be like a Tim Tebow.” (Which really wasn’t “quite some time” ago.)
As crazy as it sounds, Sunday’s performance was bad enough to put all options on the table. Appearing on Monday’s PFT Live, Cabot said the next two games take on extra importance because the Browns once again have two first-round draft picks. Which means that the Browns could decide based on the next two games to go in a different direction.
Would it be fair to assess Manziel based on three games? Maybe, but his inability to beat out Brian Hoyer in the first 13 games becomes part of the overall puzzle. By the time the season ends, the Browns may know everything they need to know. And if they know Manziel won’t become at the NFL level the guy he was in college, sticking with him will eventually give the homeless guy who said “draft Manziel” some company.