The Cleveland Browns are expected to give Johnny Manziel a strong chance to be their starting quarterback when the 2015 NFL season starts later this year, but one analyst insisted that the team should consider parting ways with the young QB.
Manziel, the 22nd overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, played in just seven quarters in his rookie season, where he completed 18 of his 35 passes for 175 yards with no touchdown against two interceptions.
The 22-year-old quarterback, who started the season as backup to Brian Hoyer, said in a recent interview that it will be unfair to him if the Browns will decide to give up on him based on a limited sample size this season.
"If that's what they are in the business for and what they intended on me coming in here doing, just giving them seven quarters, giving them a couple of games and then looking somewhere else, I don't feel that's a lot of commitment of sticking with somebody," Manziel told ESPN last month.
But while Manziel did not get a lot of opportunities to prove his worth in his rookie year, Scott Petrak, an NFL analyst from Chronicle Online, said the Browns should strongly consider dumping the former Texas A&M standout.
Petrak said that aside from Manziel's poor play on the field, the Texas native was also involved in several off-field troubles. Manziel has been saying all along that he will learn from his mistakes, but Petrak is convinced that the young quarterback will not learn from it.
"Any decision to part with Manziel - via trade or release - goes well beyond the small sample size on Sundays," Petrak wrote. "He isn't talented enough or dedicated enough to succeed at the game's most important position. And I don't see that changing."
Despite playing just seven quarters, Petrak said that he is ready to label Manziel a "draft bust" based on his on and off the court demeanor last year and concluded that the Browns should just trade him even for a third and fourth-round pick this offseason.
"I'm ready to call Manziel a bust. It's time to see if the Cowboys or Jets or another team looking for attention is willing to give up a third- or fourth-round pick in the hopes he can recapture the magic he had in college," Petrak added. "The Browns should be smart enough to know that won't happen."
