The Browns have rookie Johnny Manziel and longtime Mike Pettine favorite Rex Grossman in the fold, but quarterback Brian Hoyer isn’t chopped liver. As Nate Ulrich of the Beacon Journal explains, Pettine used three opportunities in the last 24 hours to shoot down speculation that Hoyer, the projected starting QB for Cleveland, could be traded.
When asked yesterday if the arrival of Grossman, who hasn’t played in a regular-season NFL game since 2011, could make Hoyer expendable, the coach responded, “No, absolutely not.” During an interview this morning with ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike, Pettine was asked the same question and gave a similar, but longer, answer.
“I got that question yesterday, and that’s really not the case,” Pettine said. “It was just something that we looked to upgrade that third [quarterback] spot. We think the world of Brian, and he’s been real solid for us, has done nothing to have that job taken away. We’re really pleased with where he is. A lot of people don’t realize it — he played against Detroit [in the preseason opener Saturday]. That was his first live action since coming off a serious knee injury, and we thought he handled himself very well.”
The third denial came earlier today when a reporter asked Pettine about a bogus rumor that had Hoyer going to the Texans for wide receiver Andre Johnson. While it’s possible that Manziel could vault himself to the top of the depth chart in 2014, it sounds like we should expect Hoyer to continue to remain in the picture.