Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that even after using a first-round pick on QB Johnny Manziel, the Browns will explore “all of their options at quarterback” next year.
According to Cabot, the Browns are willing to consider the idea of trading up into the top-five to get Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota.
League sources tells Cabot that Browns GM Ray Farmer is “enamored” with Mariota and their scouting department has already been following him and will continue to do so throughout the process.
Cleveland will continue to evaluate Manziel over the final two weeks of the season, but Cabot expects them to consider every possible option to upgrade the quarterback position, which could include using another first-round pick on a quarterback next year.
It’s worth mentioning that the Browns have two first-round selections, which should be enough to trade up into the top-five if they wanted to go this route.
There is a chance that the teams like the Raiders, Titans, and Jaguars could be willing to trade out of the top-five as Jacksonville and Oakland both have young quarterbacks and there has been speculation that the Titans could target Bears QB Jay Cutler.
At this point in time, the talk of Cutler to Tennessee is just speculation, so we’ll have to see what happens in the coming months before having a better idea of what teams could be targeting Mariota.
The Browns could still bring back Brian Hoyer, but that seems like an unlikely option now that he’s been benched in favor of Manziel.
Manziel, 22, will have another three years remaining on his rookie contract as well as a fifth-year option that the Browns can pick up.
Entering Sunday’s game, Manziel has completed 55.6 percent of his passes for 143 yards, two interceptions and a rushing touchdown over the course of four games.
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