Johnny Manziel's Updated Fantasy Outlook After Being Named Browns QB for 2015

With the news that Johnny Manziel will be taking the reins as the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback this year, fantasy football owners have another possible target to acquire to help fill out their respective rosters. 

The Browns announced on Tuesday that Manziel will be Cleveland's go-to guy for the final six games of the regular season when the team comes out of its Week 11 bye. 

This might lead some fantasy owners looking for an added spark on their team to take a look at Manziel, especially if they aren't getting much from their quarterbacks. 

They could be onto something too. Let's take take a look at Manziel's numbers this season in starts compared to his relief appearances for Josh McCown:   

In Starts	Stat	In Relief
3	Games	3
60.2	Completion Percentage	57.1
712	Yards	221
4	Touchdowns	1
1	Interceptions	1
100.3	Quarterback Rating	73.6

In starts, Manziel has performed significantly better than when he came in for McCown in relief. Two of those starts came against top-half defenses in the Tennessee Titans and Cincinnati Bengals defenses. His accuracy has been slowly improving over his time in the league, and his legs could also grab fantasy teams a few extra points.

But in those three starts, Manziel has not topped more than 15 fantasy points, which he did in his Week 10 performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers, when he threw for 372 yards and a touchdown. That's not exactly the kind of point output fantasy owners want from their quarterbacks, even in two-QB leagues.     

Add that to the fact his two leading targets are the unproven wide receiver Travis Benjamin and tight end Gary Barnidge, who never had more than 18 receptions in a single year prior to 2015, and Manziel is lacking an experienced set of hands to rely on in do-or-die situations.

Unless your team is devoid of other quarterbacks, it might be too high of a risk to give a starting spot on your roster to Manziel—especially when he still has to face the Bengals one more time along with the second-ranked Seattle Seahawks defense. 

If desperation is a factor here, choose according to the schedule when Manziel is facing teams like the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens, both bottom-10 defenses in the league. 

All stats courtesy of ESPN.com.