Another edition of As the Browns Quarterbacks Turn
Oct 01, 2015 -- 8:42am
The Morning Kickoff …
Payday: So, who had Austin Davis getting a contract extension before Johnny Manziel? Anybody?
For that matter, who had Manziel getting benched before Josh McCown? Think about it. Isn’t that what’s happened?
Can anyone figure out where the Browns are going with their quarterback position?
Nobody. And that includes them.
Which is to be expected from a franchise that summoned a $100,000 analytics study on the quarterback draft class of 2014, and then rejected the conclusive answer, Teddy Bridgewater, for Manziel based on text messages traded with then-quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains, and the whim of SEC-obsessed owner Jimmy Haslam.
Dowell Loggains.
They didn’t listen to Kyle Shanahan on quarterbacks but they did listen to Dowell Loggains? SMH.
But that was 2014.
What about 2016?
Here are some projected quarterback depth charts for the Browns in 2016:
A. 1. Josh McCown, 2. Cardale Jones (r), 3. Austin Davis.
B. 1. Johnny Manziel, 2. Austin Davis, 3. Connor Shaw.
C. 1. Cardale Jones (r), 2. Johnny Manziel, 3. Austin Davis.
D. 1. Austin Davis, 2. Connor Cook (r), 3. Tyler Thigpen.
(Ok, D. 3. was a joke.)
Did you notice the one name in each possibility? Austin Davis.
The Austin Davis.
Between the lines: According to ESPN, the Browns signed Davis to a two-year deal worth $4.127 million and $600,000 in guarantees. That’s third-string money.
But that’s a pretty good deal for a guy who has not thrown a pass for the Browns in a preseason or regular-season game.
Davis, 26, is in his third NFL year. In 2014, he began the St. Louis Rams training camp as their No. 3. By the second half of the first game, he was playing. He started in Game 2. By the end of the year, Davis had won three of eight starts,
Counting two other appearances, Davis finished with a completion percentage of 63.7, tossed 12 touchdowns v. nine interceptions, and had a passer rating of 85.1.
“We like his skill set, like his mentality, like his competitiveness and how he approaches football and felt like it would be a win for us to have him signed to a long term contract,” coach Mike Pettine said on Wednesday.
Davis said, “Obviously, I’m excited about the opportunity it could bring. But it’s not right now.
“A lot of times, with contracts come opportunity. That’s what I’d be looking for, an opportunity to compete and play. I do think it shows they do trust me on some level, so with that comes responsibility to prepare and do your best whenever that opportunity comes.”
The strangest thing about the Davis contract extension is that the Browns conceived it and executed it – supposedly -- without the input or approval of GM Ray Farmer, whose league suspension for improper texting during games in 2014 ends on Monday. Under terms of the suspension set forth by the NFL, Farmer can’t communicate with, or conduct business on behalf of, the Browns until the suspension is lifted.
“We don’t just lock the office door of the GM and don’t do anything GM-related,” Pettine said.
Right now, Davis is merely the No. 3 quarterback. If nothing else, that makes him the odds-on favorite to become the 24th quarterback to start a game for the Browns since 1999.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” Davis said. “Hopefully, everybody stays healthy. But that doesn’t always happen, so … “
Oh, don’t worry. Davis will start a game this year. It comes with the uniform.
There has been rampant speculation on Twitter that the Davis contract extension may be a precursor to a trade. That maybe the Browns would catch Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones going to the men’s room out of the sight of son Stephen Jones and might be able to entice Jerry to give up a draft pick for Manziel, a Texas native and renowned pre-2014 draft favorite of Jones.
I don’t see that happening, especially after the Cowboys traded for Matt Cassel to eventually replace Brandon Weeden during starter Tony Romo’s eight-week rehab from a broken left clavicle.
The other guys: Meanwhile, back at the ranch …
McCown spent a large portion of his weekly appearance in front of his locker throwing water on the TMZ.com report citing three unidentified Browns offensive starters bitching to have Manziel play quarterback instead of McCown.
“I am not worried,” McCown said. “I don’t think it was anything that I need to waste my time on. That stuff is outside of here. The guys in here, we know what we have going and the direction we are headed. We are all on the same page with that. I don’t really worry about stuff like that.”
Technically, McCown was the starter in both games the Browns lost and Manziel was the starter in the game they won. But Manziel took over for McCown in the season opener with the score tied 0-0 and held a 10-0 lead before losing, 31-10.
Yet the Manzealots – and the three unidentified starters in the TMZ report – will tell you that the team plays demonstrably better for Manziel.
“I told you guys this the other day: I have been on both sides of this thing,” McCown said. “This is a diverse group of guys in here. There are definitely people that will follow any issue that you talk about and there will be people who have different opinions on anything. Position things and stuff like that are probably no different. There are people that have different opinions on that. That is OK. That is fine.
“At the end of the day, do I question whether or not we are going to be on the same page when we step out there Sunday? Absolutely not.
“Whether you are for one guy or the other, you think one guy gives you a better chance to win or not, it doesn’t matter because when we get out there on Sunday, everyone is giving their best. That was evident this Sunday, and I expect that moving forward. Whether it was three guys or 10 guys or whether we knew or not, it doesn’t matter. It is just about us being on the same page when we get out there Sunday.”
The only quarterback not heard from on Wednesday was Manziel.
Stay tuned.
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