Browns' Joe Thomas on Manziel: 'He's ready to be an NFL starting quarterback'
Four months after delivering a scathing review of Johnny Manziel, Cleveland Browns star left tackle Joe Thomas is singing a different tune.
Thomas scrutinized Manziel for his immaturity, and asserted that he lost the trust of the team after the former Heisman Trophy winner was regularly late to meetings and failed to record a touchdown.
Manziel entered rehab for an undisclosed issue earlier this spring, and impressed early on in training camp, making a number of throws that seemed unfathomable last winter.
The five-time All-Pro Thomas provided a glowing assessment of Manziel on Friday.
"He's really proved to a lot of people that this is important to him and he's ready to be an NFL starting quarterback,'' Thomas said to Mary Kay Cabot of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. "Playing well in the scrimmage tonight and looking like an NFL quarterback is another good step in the direction that he wants to go. He's just earning that trust of his teammates that he's going to need to do if he wants to be that starter. He impressed a lot of people out here tonight.''
Manziel went 9-for-11 for 93 yards and two touchdowns during the Orange and Brown scrimmage at the fabled Ohio Stadium.
"We always knew he had the talent,'' Thomas said. "So it was never a matter of the talent that he had. You're starting to see the work that he put in off the field, but the commitment that he's made in the meeting room. Studying film when he doesn't need to be. Doing the things that a starting quarterback has to do. I think you're seeing it now that he's in competitive situations he's able to let that talent go and play well. And that's what you saw today.''
Josh McCown appears to be the starting quarterback with just over a month before the start of the regular season. However, Manziel is closing the gap on the veteran, and could be under center by Week 1 if he continues to progress throughout the preseason.
McCown, to his credit, raved about Manziel's performance.
"When you go through some things like tonight where you kind of have a couple of drives that don't go your way and then you pull yourself out of it, that's the main thing," McCown said. "The throw was terrific, but just the way he battled through it was awesome and that's the mark of making progress in my opinion and of a quarterback maturing and I'm very pleased with how he played. He played very well. He's really coming along.''
The Browns' quarterback race will likely come down to the wire, and will be something to monitor as September rapidly approaches.