Browns' Mike Pettine doesn't believe Russell Wilson's a top-tier quarterback

The Cleveland Browns will take on the league's hottest quarterback on Sunday when they travel to Seattle to play Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.

Browns head coach Mike Pettine isn't ready to put Wilson in the elite tier of quarterbacks, however, instead characterizing Wilson as a second-tier player that's playing exceptionally well at the moment.

"Would you put him there with the guys that can transcend their supporting cast?" Pettine said, according to Pat McManamon of ESPN. "The (Tom) Bradys, whether it's Aaron Rodgers, (Drew) Brees, (Ben) Roethlisberger, the ones that you would consider the two, three, four elite guys? No. But he's certainly played himself into that next tier."

Wilson has thrown 16 touchdowns against zero interceptions in his last four games, but Pettine still sees the Super Bowl champion as a dangerous threat to run the ball. As for the similarities between Wilson and Johnny Manziel, Pettine believes they're justified.

"You can certainly see the similarities," he said. "They've done a nice job up there kind of building the package around him. He's more of a runner than we see in Johnny. I'm talking about called quarterback runs. Do we have some zone read stuff and putting the QB on the move? We do that, but (Wilson's) I think thicker built and can withstand some of the shots in the run game more so than we would want to expose Johnny to."

Pettine's comments seem to indicate a belief that Wilson is, at least, partly successful because of the system the Seahawks have put him in. It remains to be seen if he'll get the opportunity to do the same with Manziel after this season.