Before Johnny Manziel was drafted 22nd overall by the Browns last month, he made his case back in February for why they should take him.
“I don't care if they've had 20 starting quarterbacks since 1999,” Manziel told the Houston Chronicle then. “I'm going to be the 21st and the guy that brought them the Super Bowl."
Manziel is right, at least about the first part. That’s exactly how many passers who’ve been No. 1 on the Browns depth chart since their franchise rebirth 15 years ago. That’s a total 241 games, including one playoff appearance.
Manziel's quest to win the starting job over Brian Hoyer (No. 19 of those 20) has already begun. But before moving on to starter No. 21, here are the 20, ranked by passing efficiency, who've already held the job:
1. Kelly Holcomb (13 starts): 84.0 rating, 4-9 record
2. Thaddeus Lewis (1 start): 83.3 rating, 0-1 record
3. Brian Hoyer (3 starts): 82.6 rating, 3-0 record
4. Trent Dilfer (11 starts): 76.9 rating, 4-7 record
5. Jason Campbell (8 starts): 76.9 rating, 1-7 record
6. Jeff Garcia (10 starts): 76.7 rating, 3-7 record
7. Seneca Wallace (7 starts): 76.6 rating, 1-6 record
8. Ty Detmer (2 starts): 75.7 rating, 0-2 record
9. Tim Couch (59 starts): 75.1 rating, 22-37 record
10. Colt McCoy (21 starts): 74.8 rating, 6-15 record
11. Brandon Weeden (20 starts): 71.8 rating, 5-15 record
12. Charlie Frye (19 starts): 71.2 rating, 6-13 record
13. Derek Anderson (34 starts): 69.7 rating, 16-18 record
14. Brady Quinn (12): 66.8 rating, 3-9 record
15. Jake Delhomme (4 starts): 63.4 rating, 2-2 record
16. Doug Pederson (8 starts): 56.6 rating, 1-7 record
17. Luke McCown (4 starts): 52.6 rating, 0-4 record
18. Spergon Wynn (1 start): 41.2 rating, 0-1 record
19. Ken Dorsey (3 starts): 26.1 rating, 0-3 record
20. Bruce Gradkowski (1 start): 2.8 rating, 0-1 record
Although the Browns’ consistently sub-par recent QB history won’t affect the outcome of Manziel vs. Hoyer, it provides a few key takeaways.
The Browns have recently made the best of a bad situation. It’s weird that Hoyer and Campbell, who combined for 11 starts in their first year with the team in 2013, each jumped into the top five in rating. Lewis’ one chance came the year before. That’s positive momentum they can keep riding with Kyle Shanahan.
In a defensive-minded division, that improvement has them closer to their division foes’ QB situations than we think. Consider the rating of Ravens Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco dropped to 73.1 last season. It also means if Manziel starts as a rookie, he wouldn’t need to be spectacular to show that he could be better than rest. Producing the kind of passing numbers Robert Griffin III just did in his Year 2 (82.2 rating), along with some dynamic running, is enough for Manziel to make his Year 1 a success.
Johnny Weeden or Johnny Quinn? This is the third time in eight drafts the Browns have targeted their franchise QBs in the late first round. On the stat sheet, there wasn’t much difference between the past two, Quinn and Weeden. Still, throwing Weeden into the fire was a better decision than sitting Quinn early. Quinn lost to Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson in his 2007 rookie battle, and was left always chasing his opportunity to get settled. Given Manziel’s competitive psyche, they may want to avoid making it “too open” with Hoyer and Tyler Thigpen.
Tim Couch deserves (a little) more credit. Only one of those 20 quarterbacks can sympathize with the pressure on Manziel. As a rookie quarterback for a unique expansion team that already had a rich history and demanding fan base, Couch wasn’t set up to do well. What he did over almost a full four seasons wasn’t bad for a team that was still putting things around the QB. There's more of a support system now for a rookie such as Manziel, even without top wideout Josh Gordon. Few can rival what they have at left tackle (Joe Thomas), center (Alex Mack) and tight end (Jordan Cameron) now.
But wait, there’s also a lot of Holcomb in Hoyer. Holcomb (6-2, 212) is the only one who’s played in the playoffs for the new Browns (and played well back in ’02). Hoyer (6-3, 215) is the only one with an unblemished record. The Cleveland native does what Holcomb did — play more as a distributor than gunslinger. In the past, between Holcomb and Hoyer, the Browns have just had aging retreads as their fallback. Just in case Manziel isn’t ready, they can lean on a viable veteran backup plan they haven’t had in a while.
