Brian Hoyer is feeling a little disrespected. The quarterback returned to the Cleveland Browns under the impression that he would be the starting quarterback. After successfully rehabbing a torn ACL, the veteran quarterback was ready to be the man in charge. Naturally he expected Cleveland to draft someone to develop. He did not expect to be in a nationally-covered quarterback competition with Johnny Manziel as Cleveland continues to add more players to the mix.
The Cleveland Browns opted to sign Rex Grossman on Tuesday, releasing Tyler Thigpen in the process. Grossman has proved himself to be a starting quarterback in the past, spending the past five seasons with the Washington Redskins. He worked well with current Browns offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan while there and now the two will continue the relationship in Cleveland. While Grossman now enters the quarterback competition mix, head coach Mike Pettine is denying it means that Hoyer is expendable in any fashion.
"Absolutely not," Pettine said, via ESPN.com "The bottom line coming out of the game is they both should get equal reps with the ones. We haven't gotten to that. That will also depend on where we are with the rest of the roster."
Pettine remained adamant with the media that the arrival of Grossman in no way impacted the competition between Hoyer and Manziel. He simply felt the team needed a solid rotation of players and given the veteran's familiarity with Shanahan's offense, Grossman was the best addition possible. He will remain the third-string option in training camp while Manziel and Hoyer battle it out for the top spot. The two quarterbacks are currently splitting the first-team reps 50-50 and Pettine has yet to determine a starter for Monday's preseason game against the Washington Redskins.
Pettine notes that the attention to the competition is merely overblown. The media spotlight has not left the Browns since the arrival of Manziel as many wonder if it is only a matter of time before the rookie is named the starter for the season. Pettine is not about to give into the pressure to name Manziel the starting quarterback despite the growing curiosity of how he would handle it.
"I have two guys that know quarterback play really well in Kyle Shanahan and Dowell Loggains. And we'll sit down, the three of us, probably include Ray Farmer as well so he can hear us debate it back and forth," Pettine said. "It's all going to come down to who can give us the best chance to win a football game. And we're not going to feel pressure -- I know there's the external pressure of a lot of people want to see the rookie out there. We understand that. But we're in the football business here and we have to make the decision we feel is best for the Cleveland Browns."
