Johnny Manziel is back. Sort of. On Friday night, the former Browns quarterback will make his first CFL start with his new club, the Montreal Alouettes.
“I feel fortunate enough this week to be going against a team, a defense that I’ve seen more than any other defense since I’ve been in the CFL,” Manziel told reporters as he prepares to face his former team, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (via TSN). “I feel like I really know this personnel very well, I feel like I know this team in and out because I was a part of it.”
Manziel, of course, is hoping to impress on the elongated CFL field and return to the NFL. It remains to be seen whether he’ll get another chance south of the border, but NFL evaluators will certainly be keeping a watchful eye on his performance.
Here’s a look at the AFC North:
- Brandon LaFell‘s agent says that his client asked to be released from the Bengals, but a team source says that the decision was not made based on LaFell’s desire to play elsewhere, Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com tweets. It sounds like the source had not heard of any such request by LaFell, but even if the wide receiver asked to be let go, it’s doubtful such a request would have been granted anyway. The source told Terrell that the move was made to give the club’s young receivers more reps.
- The Browns are trying All-Pro guard Joel Bitonio at left tackle, as Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes. Recently, Browns offensive line coach Bob Wylie said playing Bitonio at left tackle was the club’s “Plan Z.” Apparently, it only took a matter of days for the team to work its way through the alphabet. If the Browns opt to use Bitonio on the outside in September, it will probably result in Shon Coleman going to the bench with No. 33 overall pick Austin Corbett starting at left guard. Alternatively, one has to wonder if the Browns will explore external tackle options in order to keep Bitonio at his natural position.
- No one will confuse Ravens rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson for a Mr. Universe contestant, but the Louisville product says that he is not planning on gaining a significant amount of weight.
- The Steelers recently learned that guard Ramon Foster will not require surgery to fix his knee.
With all their FA additions, I’m surprised the Browns couldn’t find a decent LT.
And no, Robinson doesn’t count.
Maybe a trade is in order?
LaFell to Titans or 49ers. They need Vet leadership
I have a hard time believing that Coleman can’t be a serviceable LT fot the browns. All 4 other players will be good at the respective positions, to displace an above average guard to play tackle seems misguided. I don’t think this experiment lasts long. Although, Hue Jackson is a terrible coach. So maybe Coleman isn’t ready to go or maybe Jackson prefers to have Corbett at G. My guess is that Coleman starts at LT to begin the season and he misses reps bc Jackson is incompetent or trying to prove a point in some way.
Trading is difficult because teams with decent LTs generally move quickly to lock these guys up long term.
Could they possibly trade Jackson for a used LT?
I can’t think of any tackles that might even be available. Brown is happy in Seattle, Glenn is with cinci now. None of the bad teams is the league have a LT to trade I just don’t know where and external tackle is gonna come from
When you see dinosaurs like Whitworth and Peters (36) and Penn (35) getting about 10 mill per season you know it is a sellers market. Cleveland committed themselves to a youth movement 2 years ago so they have to stay with that. Until help arrives by way of the draft they will probably have to bite the bullet.
Hueless would rather shoot himself in the foot with that bullet.