Cleveland Browns: Full Position Breakdown, Depth Chart Analysis at Quarterback

The Cleveland Browns quarterback position is one that is still up in the air. But the Browns have a lot of time left to make their decision, with 10 OTA practices, one minicamp and summer's training camp still ahead before the 2015 NFL season begins.

As of now, the starter is veteran Josh McCown, whom the Browns signed in February to add not just experience to the quarterback room, but also potentially on the field. Head coach Mike Pettine said earlier this month that McCown will be taking all starting reps up to and including in training camp.

Pettine said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, that, "We're not going to start talking competition. Josh, like I said will more than likely be the starter going into camp and in the foreseeable future I don't see that changing."

Player	Year	Starts	Atts.	Comp.	Comp.%	Yds.	TD	INT	Sack
McCown	2014	11	327	184	56.3%	2,206	11	14	36
Manziel	2014	2	35	18	51.4%	175	0	1	3
Shaw	2014	1	28	14	50.0%	177	0	1	4
Lewis	2013	5	157	93	59.2%	1,092	4	3	18

The Browns are McCown's seventh team since being drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in 2002. He spent 2014 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, starting 11 games. He completed 56.3 percent of his 327 pass attempts for 2,206 yards and threw 11 touchdowns to 14 interceptions while being sacked 36 times. The Buccaneers went 1-10 with him as the starter.

Pettine, though, is not concerned with McCown's poor 2014 performance and instead expects him to look more like he did in 2013, when he started five and appeared in eight games for the Chicago Bears.

Pettine said:

"

There were a lot of circumstances and I'm not going to get into them as to what happened at Tampa, but we're comfortable, and obviously we were comfortable because we brought him here and signed him that we're going to see more of the Josh McCown from Chicago than we did from the Josh McCown in Tampa.

"

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

In his one year in Chicago, McCown completed 66.5 percent of his passes and threw 13 touchdowns to one interception. The Browns are, according to Pettine, trying to build a strong "supporting cast" around McCown to allow him to succeed.

"If we feel we're playing well around Josh, we'll make his job that much easier," said Pettine. That supporting cast includes veteran wide receivers Dwayne Bowe, Brian Hartline and Andrew Hawkins, as well as tight end Rob Housler and running backs Duke Johnson, Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West.

But it's also a supporting cast that could greatly assist the Browns' current No. 2 quarterback, Johnny Manziel. Pettine insists that the team sticking with McCown as the starter for the foreseeable future does not preclude the Browns from eventually giving Manziel time to work with the first-team offense, nor does it mean he won't start in 2015. Instead, the decision was reflective of the reality of Manziel's situation:

"

I just think we're too close to him getting out [of rehab]. I just think it's too early to start expanding what we're asking him to do and what we're wanting him to get involved in. It's baby steps here at this point. It's a new system, he's getting used to a new quarterback coach, a new coordinator and there's plenty on his plate and there's plenty of football between now and the start of the season for us to make an evaluation.

"

How quickly Manziel gets used to his new coaching staff and system will determine when (or if) he will get a shot to work with the starting offense. For what it's worth, Manziel's new offensive coordinator, John DeFilippo, is impressed with Manziel so far, saying to Cabot in May that:

"

Johnny's been great. ... All I know is this: From the moment he stepped in this building from the last two weeks, he's been nothing but a consummate professional. He's spent every hour that he's been allowed to spend in this building. We give them worksheets every Tuesday and every Friday, and they're done to the unbelievable detail that we need an NFL quarterback to do. From that standpoint, like I said I can't predict the future, but all I can do is tell you right now Johnny Manziel is putting himself in a position to be a quarterback in the NFL.

"

Still, it cannot be ignored that Manziel looked entirely unprepared when given opportunities as a rookie. In five games and two starts, he completed just 18 of his 35 passes last year for 175 yards and no touchdowns to two interceptions. While he did have a rushing score, that was as close as Manziel got to his collegiate magic. Perhaps his stint in rehab has allowed him to recommit himself to football, and thus he will be a better player, a more prepared player and a worthy starter in 2015. But for now, Pettine and the coaching staff would prefer to take it slowly.

Pettine said that, "I'm not going to commit to a starter for Game One," but it's hard to imagine anyone other than McCown starting. McCown was signed to a three-year, $14 million contract, one that includes $6.25 million in guaranteed money and has a salary-cap hit of $3.917 million this year. That's not Ben Roethlisberger-style money by any stretch, but it is significantly more than Manziel or any other quarterback on Cleveland's roster is set to make this year.

And, given the cash and the situation, and it's not hard to draw parallels between the 2015 Browns and the 2014 (and 2015) Buffalo Bills. Last August, the Bills signed free agent Kyle Orton to a two-year, $11 million contract that included $3 million in guaranteed money. It seemed like an indictment of second-year passer EJ Manuel, and indeed it was—Manuel started the first four games for the Bills, going 2-2, before Orton became the starter and led Buffalo to a 9-7 record.

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Orton retired after the 2014 season, and again the Bills sought out a veteran to likely play ahead of Manuel yet again. This time, it was Matt Cassel, whom they traded with the Minnesota Vikings to get. Cassel is playing on a two-year, $10.5 million contract that includes $5.65 million in guaranteed cash.

Given Orton starting last year, it's safe to assume Cassel will do the same this year in Buffalo—for similar money as to what McCown is being paid in Cleveland. Thus, it's not difficult to connect the dots and come away believing that not only will McCown be the Browns' Week 1 starter this season, but that it was always the plan all along.

If McCown falters, Manziel will be the eager next man up. That's what happened in 2014, when Brian Hoyer's game play steadily declined, forcing Manziel into the starting lineup even though he proved less than ready to be promoted. This year, with a season in the NFL behind him and a new attitude on life, Manziel could be far better prepared. If "Buccaneers McCown" is what the Browns end up getting, Cleveland will be far less patient with the veteran as it was last year.

Rob Carr/Getty Images

Behind Manziel on the depth chart is Connor Shaw. Though Shaw is technically the third-string quarterback, he is a dark-horse contender to start this year. That doesn't mean he's in the running to be the starter in Week 1, but rather he has the chance to take the field at some point should McCown underperform and Manziel still not be ready enough to play in his coaches' eyes.

Shaw started in Week 17, with both Hoyer and Manziel nursing injuries. He completed 14 of his 28 pass attempts for 177 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception while taking four sacks. On one hand, it was a performance reflective of a third-string rookie quarterback who went undrafted; on the other, his one start was comparable to Manziel's two as far as the stat line is concerned.

Whether that says more about Shaw or Manziel will become a bit clearer as training camp begins in July; if Shaw gets more time with the No. 1 and No. 2 offenses than Manziel, then we know something is amiss with Manziel's progress. At the very least, it does appear that Shaw is a much better quarterback than his undrafted pedigree would make one think—but the sample size is small.

Rounding out the Browns quarterback depth chart at this time is Thaddeus Lewis, who spent the 2011 and 2012 seasons in Cleveland. His last regular-season action was in 2013, when he started five games for the Bills. He completed 93 of his 157 pass attempts for 1,092 yards. He threw four touchdowns to three interceptions and was sacked 18 times. He also ran 24 times for 52 yards and a score that year.

Lewis has similar mobility to Manziel, which makes him a useful fourth-team quarterback. He can install parts of Cleveland's offense that are Manziel-tailored with the bottom of the offensive depth chart, exposing it to something other than the in-the-pocket style of McCown. He'll be a valuable camp arm over the summer, but unless he somehow shows more than Shaw to the point where Shaw is released, there's little likelihood that Lewis will remain on the Browns roster in the fall.

Cleveland's quarterback depth chart will eventually become more malleable. But for the next month and a half, it's set in stone. McCown is the starter, Manziel is the No. 2, Shaw is the No. 3 and Lewis is the No. 4. This depth chart could change in many ways between now and Week 1. But, until July rolls around, this is where the position stands.