Cleveland Browns Week 9 Stock Report

The Cleveland Browns have crossed the halfway point of the season, and right now, it's not pretty, with the team totaling just two wins to six losses. Although the Browns have eight games left to turn things around, the climb will be steep and fraught with peril.

So, who in Cleveland seems best equipped to help the team halt its slide, and who may be hurting those efforts? Here is the Browns' stock report for Week 9.

Stock Up: QB Johnny Manziel

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Quarterback Johnny Manziel will get his second start of the 2015 season Thursday, thanks to Josh McCown further aggravating shoulder and rib injuries he suffered in Week 7 in the Week 8 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. With just a four-day window between one game and the next, the development is not surprising.

While this may not lead to Manziel remaining the starter for the rest of the year, any regular-season playing time he gets shoots his stock upward. The more he can work in a live-game situation, the more he'll be ready to advance his career whenever he's called upon. And it also affords him the opportunity to put live reps on tape, which is an important teaching tool.

The NFL Network's Albert Breer discussed Manziel with head coach Mike Pettine, who sounded enthusiastic about the progress Manziel has made between his rookie and second seasons. Manziel will have yet another chance to show off this progress and make yet another case for why he's the Browns' quarterback of the future.

Stock Down: RB Robert Turbin

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When the Browns made the decision to bring on injured running back Robert Turbin with the knowledge that it would be a few weeks until he could contribute, head coach Mike Pettine explained the reasoning this way:

"

When you go down the list of attributes what we're looking for in a running back, and then also just the bonus part of it is the person that we're bringing to the room—nothing but positive opinions on how he is in the locker room, in the meeting room, on the practice field —it was just a move that we felt was best for us.

"

And while that may be how Pettine and the Browns felt—and still feel—there's been little evidence of these attributes on the field thus far. 

Through three games, Turbin has rushed 18 times for the Browns, totaling 60 yards or 3.3 yards per carry. He's also caught two passes on three targets for eight yards. He hasn't scored any touchdowns, and his only main characteristic at this point is being the man to take the football out of dynamic rookie back Duke Johnson's hands.

Turbin was essentially a non-factor in Week 8—a game in which the rushing offense was nearly nonexistent. He had three carries that netted him a total of three yards and no catches.

"He's downhill. When you watch him play he is physical. You talk about playing with an attitude, that's the way he is," said Pettine. But, the only thing headed downhill for Turbin is his stock. He's barely made an impression so far this year.

Stock Up: WR Dwayne Bowe

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For the first time since Week 4, Browns receiver Dwayne Bowe suited up, thanks mostly to Andrew Hawkins remaining in the NFL's concussion protocol. The bad news? He only played seven of a possible 66 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, which brought the Browns' $12.5 million man's snap count this year to a meager 19.

But, the fact that he got playing time—no matter how brief—is an improvement for Bowe, who has yet to catch a pass for the Browns this year. And he may finally pull one down in Week 9's meeting with the Cincinnati Bengals, with Hawkins and now also Brian Hartline expected to be out with concussions.

Browns general manager Ray Farmer dodged reporters' questions about whether the team "overrated" Bowe when they signed him in the spring but did say that "it's our job to try to get Dwayne Bowe as many catches and opportunities as possible" in his Tuesday press conference.

And no time is better than the present for Bowe, given Hartline's and Hawkins' unavailability this week. It's now or never for Bowe. This is his biggest chance of the year, which means a stock-up arrow this week.

Stock Down: GM Ray Farmer

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Browns general manager Ray Farmer took to the podium on Tuesday, partially to discuss the trade-deadline rumors swirling the team as well as to give a general "state of the Browns" address. It did not go well.

For obvious reasons, Farmer did not want to discuss any potential trade of any Browns' player by that player's name, but by the time he spoke nearly everyone knew that the Denver Broncos were heavily pursuing the services of Cleveland left tackle Joe Thomas. 

It was a deal that broke down at the last second, with ESPN.com's Jeff Legwold reporting Tuesday that the Browns had wanted as much as two Round 1 draft picks from Denver, and that by Tuesday afternoon "the two sides were closing in on a package that included Thomas and a Browns fourth-round pick in exchange for the Broncos' first- and second-round picks in the 2016 draft but that the Browns also wanted to include the Broncos' 2016 third-round pick."

It did not come to pass, which is good, because Farmer trading away a leader and reliable player like Thomas, who is as loyal to the Browns as a player could possibly be, would be a bad move for the team and the GM's chances of remaining employed in 2016.

But that wasn't all. Farmer non-answered questions about Dwayne Bowe and sweated his way through questions about his job security.

The icing on the cake? When asked how he planned to fix the team's 2-6 record, he responded, "We continue to do exactly what we have done...which is work hard, put in the effort the time and the energy, unearth better players, unearth better opportunities for our guys and try to grow it as we see fit."

Things that, to be certain, haven't really worked. 

The non-answer answers are to be expected from any NFL general manager. But Farmer needed to be more accountable Tuesday. Instead, he simply said that the Browns are doing things the right way, though the results haven't been good.

Stock Up: The Pass Rush

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Cleveland's defense hasn't been all that great at bringing pressure this year. It had totaled just 12 sacks in its first seven games. But it re-emerged, at least for one week, against the Arizona Cardinals.

The Browns totaled one sack on Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, earned by defensive end Desmond Bryant, along with seven quarterback hits and 14 hurries, according to Pro Football Focus. All told, the Browns brought pressure on 47.5 percent of Palmer's dropbacks, and he completed 58.8 percent of his pressured throws, one of which resulted in an interception.

It was a good showing for the Browns' pass rush. Even though it totaled just one sack, the pressure on Palmer was there. It's a performance to build upon.