The St. Louis Rams and the free agent (or close to) QB market

Dec 13, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) warms up prior to the game against the San Francisco 49ers at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott R. Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

Johnny Manziel – Cleveland Browns – Trade or Release

Manziel is another young, struggling quarterback in this league. He’s the perfect example of the expectations the NFL has in place for first-round quarterbacks. If you cant come in and play at a high level consistently from day one, then there is no place for you in this league. Manziel has endured a very turbulent start to his career in Cleveland, albeit some of that is brought on by his own actions, but his play has been anything but consistent.

Manziel has seven games of starting experience to his name this season, and will likely finish out the year as the starter for the Browns due to injuries at the position. In those seven games, Manziel has thrown for 1,203 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions. He has the ability to bust one with his legs, but hasn’t been nearly as effective as a runner in the NFL as he was in college. His accuracy has improved from last year, up almost 10 percentage points to 61 percent.

There were some reports that had tied St. Louis to “Johnny Football” back in the 2014 draft, but the relationship never came to be as the Rams opted for offensive tackle Greg Robinson at the #2 slot and defensive tackle Aaron Donald at #13 overall. Manziel would eventually fall all the way to 22^nd overall and the Browns.

Manziel is under contract until 2017, but given the wave of changes expected to come crashing down on Cleveland this offseason, it’s anybody’s guess if Manziel is left standing when it’s all said and done. A young quarterback with potential that may or may not be available seems to be the trend of our list so far, but Manziel can be had for cheap and may provide another element to the Rams offense that is extremely one-dimensional at the moment.

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