Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam was not expecting this kind of offseason for his team, but suddenly the franchise is surrounded with a number of issues both on the field and off it. The Browns thought they were headed in the right direction, but now they are undergoing coaching changes while losing several stars in free agency and suspension. Haslam made it clear that Johnny Manziel will return to the team while Jose Gordon will not.
There has been a lot of speculation that the Browns would drop Manziel following his admission into rehab. The rookie quarterback failed to do much of anything on the field in 2014 while grabbing plenty of headlines off it. The idea that the Browns would either release or trade the quarterback was simply not out of the question. However, Haslam is making it clear that it is far too early to give up on Manziel and his potential.
"I applaud him for raising his hand and saying 'I need help,'" Haslam said, via ESPN.com. "We're going to do everything we can to support him. Our primary interest is making sure that he gets well, if you will. Fixes himself. However long that takes, we're going to stand beside him. We hope Johnny can get that straightened out because we feel he's a really good athlete and can help our team. But the first thing he's got to do is get himself fixed. He's an easy guy to pile on."
Another player in Manziel's corner is Brian Hoyer. The free-agent-to-be addressed the situation surrounding his former teammate saying he really wished Manziel the best and was confident he would come back a better person. Hoyer admitted that all of the offseason issues facing the Browns including Gordon's exit, Jordan Cameron's contract denial and a texting scandal were factoring in to whether or not he accepted a contract from the team in free agency.
"I reached out to Johnny and hopefully he gets what he needs out of it,'' said Hoyer, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "I'm hoping for the best for him. I know people want to make it out to seem like we're enemies, but really, we became really good friends throughout the entire season. I never felt like he was trying to undermine me or anything like that. I felt like he was always very supportive and I hope he gets what he needs and I wish him the best.''
As of now the Browns appear set on at least attempting to trade up for Marcus Mariota in the draft even if Hoyer accepts a new contract in free agency. It is hard to put too much stock in to what Haslam said regarding Manziel. There is no trade market for the quarterback this offseason and it would not make much sense to release him at this point, but anything is possible when a franchise gets desperate.
