Hard Knocks Presents Dilemma for Browns Brand, Johnny Manziel's Return

For every argument to advocate the Cleveland Browns as the next team featured on HBO's Hard Knocks, there is a rebuttal that suggests such a notion would be a downright disaster.

This complicated dilemma stems from the dysfunction the Browns have endured as an organization and the player who was tabbed last year to be their savior, Johnny Manziel.

Hard Knocks could cast Cleveland in a different light. Its coaching staff and team nucleus could obliterate the notion that the Browns aren't the train-wreck franchise everyone suspects.

Head coach Mike Pettine started his first year at the helm 7-4 before everything crashed and burned and the Browns lost their last five games. Few may know how great of a quote Pettine is in addition to being a reputable defensive tactician.

Many of the problems that led to Cleveland's 2014 collapse stemmed from poor quarterback play, which Brian Hoyer and Manziel both contributed to.

Manziel is reportedly readying to rejoin the team in time for offseason workouts on April 20 by checking out of a rehab facility in early April, according to ESPN.com's Jeremy Fowler.

Even for those rooting for Manziel and hoping to see him do well in the future, criticism will persist until Johnny Football lives up to his moniker on the gridiron.

The point Pettine made regarding Manziel when he announced that the Browns had declined to volunteer for Hard Knocks was spot-on.

"When we decided not to volunteer for Hard Knocks, we discussed everything that was involved with it," said Pettine on Tuesday, per ESPN.com's Pat McManamon. "[Manziel] is certainly something we needed to consider."

The situation with Manziel, should the HBO cameras be on him and the NFL chooses Cleveland to be on Hard Knocks, can be viewed in two distinctly different ways.

On one hand, the last thing Manziel might want after finally getting away from the public eye is a ton of added scrutiny that the other 31 teams don't have to go through in 2015 training camp. But the upside the extra exposure might produce is huge.

Attention is something Manziel has never shied away from. Although one knows exactly how different he'll be after rehab, Manziel has shown the media savvy in the past to perhaps parlay the Hard Knocks appearance into a platform to show he has made a genuine effort to change his ways.

By looking sharp in practice and appearing focused far more on football, Manziel would generate the type of buzz Cleveland hoped for when it evaluated the likable qualities of drafting the former Heisman Trophy winner in the first place.

The potential Hard Knocks dynamic involving Manziel is an appropriate parallel to how he was viewed before the Browns chose him 22nd overall in the 2014 draft. He was polarizing, and no one quite knew what to expect when he hit an NFL field.

Manziel has struggled in his limited action as a pro, but the marketing minds in the Browns building have to be salivating at a possible Hard Knocks starring role.

Remember, though—these are the Cleveland Browns. Any roll of the dice—or heck, seemingly smart decision—seems to backfire and undermine the bottom-line results. Year after year.

Fans couldn't help but love seeing their Browns. The real dilemma there is whether it'd have a negative impact on Manziel at a most critical point in his career. Should the disaster scenario play out as it often does in Cleveland, this maligned organization will move on from yet another young franchise quarterback and stockpile ammo as an NFL laughingstock.

Hard Knocks is a real risk. There's no denying Manziel's presence has played a role in the raised interest in Browns football over the past 11 months or so.

Given how much Cleveland has invested in Manziel, the positivity he can bring with his star power alone and the team's continual, gloomy forecast, Hard Knocks may be the perfect marriage to ignite a redemptive storyline for both Manziel and the Browns.

It's a lot to ask for a 22-year-old fresh out of rehab to deal with. Maybe Manziel is up for it, as he has been in the past with the spotlight fixed on him.

Maybe the new Manziel needs to quiet the chaos to clean up his game, uphold his draft status and become the solution under center the Browns have yet to find this millennium.