It doesn’t take long at the NFL Scouting Combine to find out the teams that are looking for quarterbacks are really looking for quarterbacks.
Browns head coach Mike Pettine just said that he has to approach this offseason as if he’s looking for a starting quarterback, saying “it’s probably accurate” to think that’s the team’s approach.
Pettine said he visited Manziel in rehab last week, and that “he has our full support.”
“He’s in a much better place now than before he went in,” Pettine said. “We’re proud of him. . . .
“We had the same information everyone else in the League had. It turns out to be a deeper-rooted thing that we thought.”
The support for their quarterback at a human level is impressive. But the lack of support from a football standpoint is telling.
The Browns are clearly interested in Marcus Mariota (after their coincidental hiring of his private quarterback coach), and the fact they’ve already met with veteran Josh McCown should tell you they’re open for business.
But after spending first-round picks on the position in two of the last three years, they really need to get one of these decisions right one day.