Josh McCown, Not Johnny Manziel, Could Be Difference in Browns Making Playoffs

Twelve years have passed since the Cleveland Browns last experienced the playoffs. It's been eight years since the team was even legitimately in the thick of a playoff race. 

The Browns' immediate future now falls on the shoulders of 12-year veteran Josh McCown, who was brought in to steady the ship and potentially provide enough from the quarterback position for the Browns not to suffer through yet another losing season. 

There is absolutely no mistaking what McCown's role is as a member of the Browns. He's a bridge and a mentor. He's not viewed as the answer behind center, but he's still the team's best option to improve upon last year's 7-9 campaign and finally make another postseason push. 

Last year's first-round pick, Johnny Manziel, isn't ready and may never be ready to take over the reins of the offense on a full-time basis. The team is acting accordingly.

The two quarterbacks to lead the Browns during the previously mentioned seasons, Kelly Holcomb and Derek Anderson, either were or became career journeymen. Each of them got hot at the right time and played at a high level for a short period. It still wasn't enough.

It's never been enough for the Browns. The organization used 22 different starting quarterbacks only to lead them to the slaughter since the team's rebirth in 1999. 

Still, Cleveland is once again pinning its hopes on another journeyman to turn around the stagnant franchise. 

The search for a franchise quarterback is constant all around the NFL, but it's been a bitter struggle in Cleveland. As such, the Browns decided to approach this season by making the best out of a bad situation. 

Last year's team crumbled once Brian Hoyer faltered down the stretch and Manziel proved beyond a doubt he wasn't ready to be a professional quarterback. 

The team raced to sign McCown, who finished 1-10 last year as a starter for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before being released, and eventually outbid the Buffalo Bills with a three-year, $14-million contract to acquire the aging gunslinger. 

Earlier this month, head coach Mike Pettine indicated McCown is the team's best option at quarterback even if it's a short-term solution, per the Akron Beacon-Journal's Nate Ulrich:

"

Until you feel you’ve found what you would call a long-term solution [at quarterback], I don’t think we could have done any better than bringing in a guy like Josh McCown. To me, time will tell, but there’s so much that he does behind the scenes that people just can’t appreciate from everything you talk about—leadership, all the intangible stuff. He’s truly a team guy. He’s all about winning football games.

It’s like having another coach on the field, and it’s all genuine. That’s the thing you like the most. Despite his age, people that have been at practice agree, he can still spin it. We didn’t just look to bring in a guy who was just going to be a mentor. We wanted a guy who we think can still play a little bit if you put him in the right circumstances. He’s been more than advertised.

"

In fact, Pettine already anointed McCown the team's starting quarterback a month ago and proclaimed that a quarterback competition between the veteran and Manziel isn't brewing, courtesy of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram's Scott Petrak: 

"

We’re not going to start talking competition. Josh will more than likely be the starter going into camp, and in the foreseeable future I don’t see that changing.

We want (Manziel) essentially with horse blinders on. Focus on his job, getting up every day, perfecting his craft, whatever it is, homework that the quarterbacks have or come out and working on his footwork, his releases. That he’s much more concerned about himself than really anything else.

"

Offensive coordinator John DeFilippo met with media for the first time Thursday and reiterated Pettine's stance on the team's quarterback depth chart.

"I don’t see a change for right now going into training camp. I just don’t,” DeFilippo told Ulrich. “I think Josh is playing at a high level right now. I think Josh is doing the things we want him to do. There’s a long time before we kick off against the Jets. There’s four preseason games to play."

McCown earned the praise of his coaches and his designation atop the depth chart during OTAs and mandatory minicamp. 

DeFilippo provided a somewhat surprising assessment of the veteran's skills, per the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot, especially after considering McCown is now with his ninth NFL team (as well as a quick stopover in the now-defunct UFL with the Hartford Colonials during the 2010 season): 

The Browns offensive coordinator actually coached McCown during a previous stint with the Oakland Raiders in 2007. It's been eight years since the twosome worked together, and DeFilippo can certainly see some differences, per ClevelandBrowns.com: 

OTAs and minicamp are merely the first step in the process, and any coach will say that everything changes once the pads come on during training camp. 

McCown may impress on and off the field until "live bullets" are flying, but will he then continue to do so? With the veteran currently set as the team's starting quarterback, what exactly should the Browns expect?

These are the questions an apathetic fanbase will continue to ask over the next six weeks, and this is where good old film study comes into play. There is plenty of tape on McCown over his lengthy career, but the most pertinent aspects of his play were seen during the past two seasons. 

Two versions of McCown appeared over that time.  

As a member of the Chicago Bears, the veteran experienced a career revival. Already serving two seasons as Jay Cutler's backup, McCown seized his opportunity once he became a part-time starter in 2013 after Cutler suffered a torn groin muscle. 

In two relief efforts for the injured Cutler and five games as a starter, the Sam Houston State product completed 66.8 percent of his passes for 1,809 yards, 13 touchdowns and only a single interception. 

A confident, decisive and consistent quarterback was seen during McCown's final season in Chicago. The veteran got the ball out quickly and showed good anticipation on his throws. 

Three games were viewed from the 2013 season during a stretch of games when the Bears played the St. Louis Rams, Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys. This particular stretch was arguably McCown's most successful of his career. He completed 72.3 percent of his passes and threw for at least 348 yards in each game as well as eight touchdowns. 

This was a veteran quarterback at his very best. 

McCown's first touchdown toss during the Rams contest showed just how well he was playing at this point. Below is a series of screen captures to show the quarterback's ability to recognize the opposing defense, make the right read and throw the ball with anticipation and accuracy. 

Prior to the snap, the Rams were clearly in man coverage with a safety over the top: 

NFL Game Rewind

Once the ball was snapped, McCown identified the safety, who looked toward the trips side of the formation and quickly realized he had one-on-one coverage with his talented tight end to his right:

NFL Game Rewind

The quarterback uncorked a pass before Martellus Bennett finished his route. The target hadn't even turned his head around to look for the toss before McCown let the ball fly: 

NFL Game Rewind

The result? An easy touchdown. 

Later in the contest, McCown displayed his ability to throw the ball into tight windows. 

Bennett raced down the middle of the field with linebacker James Laurinaitis trailing. 

NFL Game Rewind

The quarterback readied to release the ball well before his tight end cleared the dropping linebacker. In fact, another linebacker dropped into zone coverage toward Bennett before the ball arrived. It didn't matter: 

NFL Game Rewind

McCown was surrounded by talented targets during his time in Chicago. Along with Bennett, Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery proved to be a dynamic duo at wide receiver. 

With that much size available to the quarterback outside the numbers, the veteran signal-caller was able to display his deep accuracy. 

There were certainly times when Marshall and Jeffery made McCown look good, but the quarterback also dropped a few dimes along the way. 

Jeffery's longest reception of his career came during the 2013 season. It was an 80-yard touchdown against the Vikings. It was also a perfectly thrown pass by McCown.

Another set of screen captures showed the impressive throw. 

After the snap, the quarterback immediately recognized Jeffrey had a step on the cornerback with one safety over the top, who was facing the wrong direction:  

NFL Game Rewind

The pass was perfectly placed on the wide receiver's outside shoulder and allowed him to run after the catch to the end zone: 

NFL Game Rewind

None of this would have been possible without McCown's ability to manipulate the secondary and deliver a perfect pass while getting hit. 

First, McCown initially looked to his right and got the safety to bite toward that side of the formation. Second, the quarterback delivered a perfect pass despite a defender draped around his legs: 

NFL Game Rewind

This was McCown at his finest, but he wasn't always this good even during his magical final season with the Bears. While he only finished with a single interception that year, there were multiple opportunities for defenses to capitalize on errant or forced throws. Those moments never happened, but they would a year later. 

McCown's play last season with the Buccaneers faltered, because the veteran was never able to find a comfort zone or get on track at any point. 

The same confident signal-caller who posted an impressive 13-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio simply was never seen during his only season in Tampa Bay due to a combination of coaching upheaval, lack of continuity, injuries and a porous offensive line. 

Too much was expected of head coach Lovie Smith's chosen quarterback, particularly after coordinator Jeff Tedford suffered health setbacks and never fulfilled his role as the team's offensive play-caller. The inexperienced Marcus Arroyo, who was in his first year as an NFL assistant coach, was then asked to take game-planning duties. 

Arroyo was thrust into a role, and he leaned too heavily on his experienced quarterback. McCown became an extra coach on the field. The signal-caller also overextended and played outside himself. 

During the 20-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers in the Buccaneers' season opener, McCown was 22-of-35 passing for 183 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. 

The veteran took all of the blame for the poor performance, per SportsTalkFlorida.com:

"

It's all on me, I'll get it fixed.

We're in the process of growing and finding out who we are on offense and building our whole team, really. Along the way you don't want to do those things. You get out there in the middle of those games. It's competitive, and you want to make plays.

"

The first two games in the Buccaneers' 2014 season are a vital look at McCown's overall performance, since those occurred prior to a thumb injury that forced the quarterback to miss five games and prior to the team's offensive line crumbling. 

For those two games, though, McCown was healthy and the offensive line had all five of its projected starters along the offensive line in place. 

During this short period, the Buccaneers went from chic playoff pick to 0-2 and well on their way to a 1-8 start to the season. 

McCown always tried to make a play even when there wasn't one to be made. This was a consistent theme throughout the viewings of the 2013 and '14 seasons. His gunslinger tendencies were only magnified during last year's tumultuous campaign. 

Two plays during the first two games of the Buccaneers season were nearly identical and suffered the same unfortunate result. 

First, the Panthers pressured McCown, who broke the pocket and attempted to extend the play by running to his right. This was the pass he attempted in this particular scenario: 

NFL Game Rewind

The result? A tipped pass that resulted in an interception. 

After a pass as bad as this and McCown's vow to "get it fixed" after this game, the St. Louis Rams forced the quarterback into the same exact mistake a week later: 

NFL Game Rewind

The result? An interception thrown directly to the safety. 

A quarterback, who was in his 12th year in the league, shouldn't make this mistake two weeks in a row, if at all. McCown did. 

It didn't get much better once the quarterback returned after his injury, either. McCown finished the season with a 56.3 completion percentage, 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. 

This is the give and take a team must expect with McCown. 

If he's allowed to sit in shotgun and just let it rip, he can be very good. If an organization needs him to put the offense on his shoulders and make plays when everything breaks down, that's where he tends to fail. 

There were plenty of times during the games viewed when the veteran simply hit his back foot on his drop and released the ball in rhythm. He would also climb the pocket with his eyes downfield and still complete passes as well. Plus, even at this point in his career, McCown can still threaten the entire field, particularly outside the numbers. 

When he's forced into a situation where he needs to make a decision between trying to make a play against too much pressure or simply eating the ball, he struggled.

McCown's confidence and comfort level in Chicago was obvious, but he was prone to making poor decisions when everything wasn't perfect.

In Cleveland, though, McCown will experience a level of protection and security he has never had throughout his career. The Browns offensive line is one of the best in the business, and it should prove to be beneficial for the quarterback's overall level of play at this late stage in his career. 

“Our offensive line, this is as talented a group, as smart a group as I’ve been around," DeFelippo said during his media session last week, per ClevelandBrowns.com's Andrew Gribble.  "They’re exactly what you want in an offensive line.”

While one quarterback on Cleveland's roster is being counted on for a career revival, the team's long-term future remains in flux. 

Manziel is team's fourth attempt in 15 years to find a franchise quarterback through the first round of the draft. The organization traded up and used the 22nd pick in the 2014 NFL draft to select the Heisman Trophy winner out of Texas A&M University despite concerns about his game and how it would translate to the NFL level. 

During his first season, the neophyte passer didn't, by his own admission, prepare properly or fully understand the offense. He failed miserably once he was forced onto the field and eventually ended his first year in Cleveland in a clinical treatment facility for 10 weeks. 

Manziel admitted his failures once he finally met with the media for the first time since he was released from the program, per the team's official site: 

"

Obviously, last year was, in my mind, for me personally, a disaster. I didn’t come out and perform. That’s what it comes down to. Regardless of everything else, come out and what matters on this field is what really matters. I think there is a fine line of some people who have a lot of hope in me and a lot of faith and who are truly fans and a lot of people that think because of the way that – I think it’s even my fault – I’ve built myself up. I set myself up for a little bit of failure in that regard if I didn’t come out as a rookie and really perform.

"

The clock is ticking for Manziel, and the team is no longer relying on him to become the franchise's savior. This is McCown's team at the moment, and his head coach publicly admitted the team doesn't feel they've found a long-term option on the roster.  

However, there is also an opportunity for Manziel to learn from his previous mistake, become what it takes to be a professional quarterback and eventually earn the trust of his coaching staff. 

"

I think I’ve tried to be in here on the days that we have off and trying to be in this building as much as possible. If there’s something that irritates me, itches at me, kind of leaves me a little sour after practice, stay in here and figure it out to where that doesn’t happen again. Really that’s the biggest thing – not making the same mistake twice from a different look or just trying to get thrown off. We’re trying to be a step ahead. For me, the more time I’ve put in here watching film, the more time I sit in there with Josh. That’s a big thing that we did. Through OTAs, after practice everybody else would be out of here. Me and Josh would sit in here for some extra hours even to the afternoon and still being able to go on the golf course even later in the day. Being able to stay in here as long as possible and still get out of here and get some time to relax is really the balance. This position is extremely demanding, and I think for me now even if I feel I may be doing enough I need to continue to try and do more. The more time that I spend in this building, the better.  

"

The dual-threat quarterback was a treat to watch during his collegiate career, but he also wasn't nearly ready to make the transition from Texas A&M's spread offense to the professional ranks. Manziel even said in his press conference it was a "big jump for [him] coming from what [he] did in college until now." The problem was only exacerbated by his lack of effort off the field. 

Now, he's learning his second offense in consecutive years as the overall transition continues. 

All indications point toward Manziel being better prepared at this stage of the offseason and putting in more work than he did last season, but neither of these things prove he's a starting quarterback in the NFL. 

It's still a process and one where the divisive quarterback needs to take advantage of every opportunity when he's on the field. He hasn't done so at this point. 

“He needs to be a little more strike point accurate,” DeFilippo said Thursday morning, according to CBS Cleveland's Daryl Ruiter. 

McCown will help Manziel become a better quarterback. This is where the aspect of being a mentor comes into play. 

Last year, the first-round signal-caller was embroiled in a legitimate quarterback competition with Hoyer, who wasn't ready to concede his spot atop the team's depth chart. 

While McCown remains entrenched as the team's starter, an opportunity is in front of Manziel to take a step back and simply learn to become the best quarterback he possibly can. The two already formed a bond in the quarterback room: 

"

I think [McCown has] been awesome since the day I walked in. He’s a Texas guy. He’s from right down the road from where I was born and raised. We have a little bit of a connection there, and then I remember when I went on my visit to Tampa last year and meeting with (Buccaneers Head) Coach Lovie (Smith) and those guys there, he was extremely nice. I sat there and talked to him for probably 10 or 15 minutes during that visit. Then, to have him come in I felt a Texas guy, an east Texas guy, we were really similar in a lot of ways. He’s been really cool, and we’ve been able to talk about a lot of things about back home. He’s been able to help me, obviously being a veteran, with coverages, with protections. He’s been through this quite a few times – new offense, new system. I think he’s really helped me a lot and been, like as you’ve seen out there, I think he’s been great for not only me but for Thad (Lewis) being in there, as well as Connor (Shaw), too.

"

DeFilippo didn't close the door on Manziel possibly starting this season after he cited last year's experience of rookie Derek Carr winning the job with the Oakland Raiders. 

However, the Browns' primary goal this season is to make the playoffs. Manziel also admitted his understanding of the offense and what he's expected to do on a down-by-down basis aren't "second nature" to him at this point.

The team's roster from top to bottom is quite talented, and the continued development of a young quarterback will likely stunt the rest of the team's potential. 

David Richard/Associated Press

Along with one of the game's top offensive lines, the Browns now feature a very deep and talented defensive front. The secondary is among the league's best. General manager Ray Farmer upgraded the wide receiver position despite lingering concerns over how the team's recent veteran signings will perform. And DeFilippo is expected to build a run-heavy scheme featuring the franchise's young stable of running backs. 

The final piece remains the quarterback position. 

McCown's Jekyll and Hyde nature may not be ideal for an organization attempting to make the leap from the NFL's basement to potential playoff contenders, but the team can structure its offense to maximize what he still does best while trying to limit his deficiencies.

“Josh is your consummate professional,” Farmer said after the the team agreed to terms with the quarterback, per ClevelandBrowns.com. “He’s known to be a great guy in the locker room and will be great for the quarterback room. He knows how to get an entire offense on the same page and get a team to rally behind him. He has been exposed to a lot of different types of offenses and we think still has the drive and skill set to be a successful quarterback in this league.

Manziel is a non-factor at this point. If the second-year signal-caller provides anything this fall, it's simply a bonus for the Browns.

Until then, Cleveland is once again hanging the hopes of the city on a previously failed quarterback with just enough remaining upside to be competitive in the AFC North this fall. 

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL draft for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @brentsobleski.