Johnny Manziel Playing His Way into Staying in Cleveland in 2016

One of the most interesting offseason storylines for the Cleveland Browns surrounds what the team may choose to do with quarterback Johnny Manziel, who is currently serving as the starter for the final games of the season.

Manziel, the second-year pro from Texas A&M, went from wanting to "wreck this league," with former Browns quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains during the 2014 NFL draft to nearly wrecking his professional career. He was unprepared on the field as a rookie and unfocused off of it, leading to a stint in a rehabilitation facility during the 2015 offseason.

Though he returned to his team with a renewed passion for the game and a better understanding of what it takes to be successful in the NFL, his path to starting in 2015 was a winding one. Behind Josh McCown on the depth chart all summer long, Manziel could only get on the field at first because of injuries to McCown.

And once he was named the starter, during the Browns' Week 11 bye, he was again receiving negative media attention for his late-night escapades. This caused Browns head coach Mike Pettine to pull Manziel from the top spot on the roster down to No. 3, behind McCown and then Austin Davis.

	Atts.	Comp.	Comp.%	Yds.	TD	INT	QBR	Rush	R.Yds.	R.TD
Week 14	31	21	67.7%	270	1	1	92.1	7	15	0
Week 15	32	19	59.4%	161	1	1	69.9	2	17	0
2015	191	116	60.7%	1,364	7	4	85.9	26	122	0
2014	35	18	51.4%	175	0	2	42.0	9	29	1

But with trust mostly regained—and McCown out for the season with a broken collarbone—Davis had just one start before Pettine gave the wheel back to Manziel. He started in Weeks 14 and 15 against the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks and will do so on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Off the field, we still have to see whether Manziel away from football can make better decisions. On the field, though, Manziel has shown marked improvement from his rookie year. Numerous players—veterans and new faces alike—have noted this year how much dedication Manziel has given learning his position.

Most recently, it was tight end Gary Barnidge, who said to Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal, "I think it has shown in the way he is playing on the field, in practice and in the game and everything else. I think he is just going to keep learning."

Veteran left tackle Joe Thomas has also warmed up to the Manziel-as-quarterback idea, saying per Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot this week, "I think [Manziel] understood how important it was to show his commitment and desire to make the sacrifice to be an NFL quarterback and I think the reason he's playing well right now is because of that sacrifice and that commitment that he's made all year." Thomas added:

"

It's great just having the confidence and trust in him, knowing that you can go to him and kind of tell him what we were looking at or what we thought should happen or if he does make a mistake, try to coach him up and help him understand how we should go forward if we get those type of looks again.

"

ESPN's Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen looked at Manziel's return to the starting lineup in the same way many others did—not as an audition for him remaining the Browns starter for 2016 and beyond, but as an audition for other teams potentially interested in trading for him in the offseason, including (of course) the Dallas Cowboys.

But Manziel's last two games—and every time he's taken the field this year, frankly—have shown so much improvement in his fundamentals as an NFL-level passer that his value may be too high for the Browns to consider moving him elsewhere during the offseason.

In the team's defeat of the Niners, Manziel completed 21 of his 31 pass attempts for 270 yards and one touchdown to one interception. In the loss to the Seahawks, he completed 19 of 32 pass attempts for 161 yards, one touchdown and an interception. These aren't flawless performances, to be sure, and the Browns haven't scored a ton of points off of Manziel's arm when he's played. But they are improvements.

Jason Miller/Getty Images

In nine games and five starts this year, Manziel has completed 60.7 percent of his passes, has thrown seven touchdowns to four interceptions and has a quarterback rating of 85.9. In his rookie year, Manziel appeared in five games with two starts, had a completion percentage of 51.4, threw zero touchdowns to two interceptions and had a quarterback rating of 42.0.

Manziel is trending upward. He's more comfortable with every game he plays, and that comfort level should only rise with another offseason's worth of preparation. There are hurdles, though, to Manziel remaining in Cleveland in 2016.

If the Browns make changes at both the coaching and front-office level, it could be hard to convince any would-be replacements to be fully committed to Manziel, whether as potential starter or at least as a developmental prospect given Manziel's history off the field.

George Gojkovich/Getty Images

But Manziel does have one layer of protection in Cleveland—he has the support of team owner Jimmy Haslam. And even if general manager Ray Farmer, Pettine and others receive their walking papers at season's end, Haslam isn't going anywhere. He may use his ownership power to strong-arm the next coach and/or general manager into at least accepting Manziel, if not entirely believing in him.

What it comes down to, aside from the baggage inherent in Manziel for better or for worse, is value. Does Manziel have a greater value to the Browns offense or to the roster than he does in trade value?

And if Thomas is correct in his assertions that Manziel "understood that his rookie year was so abysmal and the level of commitment he showed in his rookie year was insufficient for an NFL quarterback," and that "(it) changed kind of at the beginning of the season here when he showed that dedication and commitment that he didn't have last year," then perhaps the changed-man Manziel's ceiling is rising so much that divesting in the one-time first-round pick may no longer be a logical option for the Browns.

Quarterbacks take time to develop, even ones who aren't so distracted as rookies that they nearly ruin their careers. Though there is exceptional pressure for young quarterbacks to start right away, particularly Round 1 picks, there's much to be said for letting these quarterbacks master the nuances and differences of the NFL game at their own paces before determining if they will ever amount to anything, or even start.

And this has been the case with Manziel. Though the circumstances are one-of-a-kind, the process isn't. And the better Manziel looks on a weekly basis, the more confident the Browns can be that he will serve as their long-term solution at the quarterback position. Year after year of stopgap options like Brian Hoyer or Josh McCown has its place, but a young, home-grown talent is what teams really covet.

If Manziel looks capable of that, there's no reason for the Browns to entertain trade offers from Dallas or any other team. Manziel may not be playing his way out of Cleveland in the final weeks of the season, but rather playing his way into long-term job security with the team that drafted him.