Does Brian Hoyer deserve a piece of the blame for Johnny Manziel's failed NFL career?
Manziel arrived in the NFL in 2014 after an electrifying collegiate career at Texas A&M. The Cleveland Browns selected him with the 22nd pick in the 2014 draft.
Despite Manziel's arrival, Hoyer remained the top QB on the Browns' depth chart and started all but three games that season. He left Cleveland the following offseason, giving Manziel a chance to take over as the franchise QB, but according to the Heisman Trophy winner, the damage had already been done.
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On a recent episode of Shannon Sharpe's "Club Shay Shay" podcast, Manziel called Hoyer out for being standoffish in the Browns QB room rather than helping him develop as a rookie.
âMy quarterback room was not a home for me because of Brian Hoyer,â Manziel said. âBrian Hoyer had been waiting on an opportunity to go really provide for his family, get an opportunity and he saw how much of an upper hand he had on me, and he didnât hold back when it came to that.
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"There were instances in the quarterback room early on where I would ask the same question a couple of times and heâd be at the head of the table and go, âPfft, again? Weâre doing this again? Keep him out of it. Cut that off.â And I donât have a bad word to say about Brian Hoyer. That is just fact of what happened in that room.â
Sharpe asked Manziel what the other quaterbacks who were in that room would say.
âGo ask (former Browns QB) Connor Shaw, who played at South Carolina and was with us in Cleveland. Go ask him how Brian Hoyer was in that room. Go ask (former Browns QBs coach) Dowell Loggains how he was in that room," Manziel said. "And itâs OK, but at that point in time where I was and Iâm the franchise guy, I could have used a little help."
You can watch the clip below:
Manziel lasted only two NFL seasons and went 2-6 as a starter. The Browns released him after the 2016 season and he never joined another team.
Netflix released an Untold documentary in August that chronicled Manziel's epic rise and fall. In the series, Manziel admitted to not studying any film during his brief NFL career. While he acknowledges his own faults, he believes a veteran like Hoyer could have done a better job to lead him in the right direction.
"I've said this before in the past and people have said, 'Why don't you take self accountability for what it was and you not putting in the work?' I didn't know what work like that was. I didn't know what the grind was because I was great at Texas A&M without it. So a sense of entitlement comes in that I could do it the same way because I don't know any better," Manziel said.
"So when you have that going on in the quarterback room, then I just do this (zipping lips shut motion). I ain't speaking. If I question something, I'm not asking. I'm embarrased. I'm getting dogged by a guy who's supposed to be my teammate."
Manziel went on to play in the Canadian Football League in 2018, followed by stints in the Alliance of American Football in 2019 and Fan Controlled Football League in 2021-22.
Hoyer continued his NFL career with the Houston Texans (2015), Chicago Bears (2016), San Francisco 49ers (2016-17), his second New England Patriots stint (2017-18), Indianapolis Colts (2019), his third stint in New England (2020-22), and the Las Vegas Raiders, where he spent the 2023 season and remains on the roster heading into the offseason.