With any luck, Mike Pettine won't have to say another word about Cleveland's elongated quarterback derby.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday after Brian Hoyer was named the team's starter over Johnny Manziel, the Browns coach assured that his veteran passer wouldn't be "looking over his shoulder."
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Despite Mike Pettine's decision, Bucky Brooks still believes Johnny Manziel is a better option at quarterback than Brian Hoyer. **READ**
"This is Brian's job," Pettine told NFL Media's Aditi Kinkhabwala. "I never think of it as (if) it's a leash or we want a guy to be a game manager. We want him to be confident and go out and play."
Pettine also rejected the idea that Cleveland would use Manziel as change-of-pace passer, saying: "I don't foresee us now, especially early, being in a two-quarterback system."
Pettine wouldn't rule out making a switch down the road -- what coach would? -- but he hinted at the possibility that Manziel "doesn't play this year."
The Browns spoke openly this summer about Manziel as a potential subpackage weapon, but Pettine sang a different tune on Wednesday, sounding doubly committed to Hoyer.
"There was nothing I would change, nothing I would do differently," Manziel told reporters. "I feel like, if I would have come out and made some plays and done better in the last two weeks, then it could have been a different outcome. But no, I don't feel that I would have gone back and done anything differently."
The option of a redshirt year for Manziel feels more alive than ever before.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" recaps all of the action from the second week of the preseason.
