Browns Announce Brian Hoyer As Starting Quarterback

 

The Cleveland Browns announced that veteran QB Brian Hoyer will be their starter for Week 1’s game against the Steelers.

BREAKING: Brian Hoyer to lead Browns, named starting quarterback. pic.twitter.com/EGKWJ5t2pZ

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 20, 2014

“He was the clear leader from the beginning,” Pettine said. “We’ve maintained all along that if it was close, I would prefer to go with the more experienced player. Brian has done a great job in the meeting rooms and with his teammates on the practice field and in the locker room.”

This, of course, means that first-round pick Johnny Manziel will begin the season as the team’s backup quarterback.

Cleveland gave Manziel the opportunity to compete for the job, but he couldn’t take advantage of the situation, even though Hoyer struggled quite a bit against the Redskins on Monday.

Going with Hoyer for the time being will take some pressure off of Manziel and allow him some time to continue learning the team’s offensive system. However, Hoyer will have little margin for error as a bad performance will likely lead to calls for Manziel to start.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing plenty about this situation throughout the season.