While other teams in the National Football League are attempting to get onto the success bus, the Cleveland Browns haven’t even figured out where it departs from. The Browns are coming off of their seventh consecutive losing season and they have only had two winning seasons since returning to the NFL in 1999. Aside from the constant turnover at the general manager and head coaching positions, the Browns have also had a revolving door at quarterback. Since 1999, the Browns have used 22 different starting quarterbacks which gives you an idea as to why they have struggled. Last year the Browns drafted quarterback Johnny Manziel in the first round of the NFL Draft and upon his arrival in Cleveland he was looked at as a savior for what has become a pitiful franchise. But last summer in Browns training camp, Manziel was beaten out for the starting quarterback position by Brian Hoyer. With Hoyer as their starting quarterback the Browns would begin the regular season with a record of 7-5, but he would be benched late in the season in favor of Manziel. Manziel would start two games for the Browns and he would go winless with a completion percentage of 51.4 with no touchdown passes and a pair of picks.
Now Hoyer is an unrestricted free agent whom the Browns appear ready to move on from. Manziel on the other hand who did have a checkered prior to joining the Browns voluntarily checked himself into a rehab facility last month in the effort to get his act together. The Browns solution for their quarterbacking woes was to sign veteran signal caller Josh McCown last week. McCown’s deal is for three years for $14 million and it could escalate up to $20 million based on how he performs. Make no mistake about it that McCown didn’t sign with the Browns to be a tutor to Manziel; he did it because he knows that he can start there.
Josh McCown
McCown will be 36-years old when the 2015 NFL season rolls around in September and the Browns will be his seventh NFL team which coincides with the revolving door at quarterback in Cleveland. McCown’s younger brother Luke who is currently a backup quarterback for the New Orleans Saints started four games for the Browns in 2004 and he went winless over that stretch. The older McCown is 17-32 lifetime as a starting quarterback in the National Football League including going 1-10 last season as the starting quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. McCown was recently released by the Bucs as they saw enough of him which paved the way for him to join the Browns.
Aside from Manziel and McCown, Connor Shaw is the other quarterback currently one the Browns roster and once you factor in that no member of this trio has made all 16 regular season starts in the NFL, it is setting up for a long season in Cleveland before it even gets started.
Browns head coach Mike Pettine appeared to be pushing all of the right buttons last season until he benched Hoyer late in the season and kept the football world hostage for a few days as he was thinking about making the switch to Manziel. Since then it has simply been the same old Browns. Wide receiver Josh Gordon will more than likely miss the upcoming season for the Browns after another failed drug test while team general manager Ray Farmer could face disciplinary action from the NFL for his “texting” mishap. And on top of that the Browns will more than likely have their version of the keystone cops at quarterback. With moves like this consistently made by the Browns it is no shock that the Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Baltimore Ravens continue to run laps around them in the AFC North.
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