It's no secret that the 2015 NFL season will be a pivotal one for Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel. The former first-round pick struggled through and abysmal rookie season that saw him attempt just 35 passes, completing 18 to his own teammates and another two to the opposition. In short, the much-hyped Manziel looked overmatched and unprepared for his NFL debut and a leading role in an NFL offense. Whether he can make amends for last year and improve his future NFL prospects in 2015 remains to be seen, but there's no denying that Manziel has been doing just about everything in his power to right last year's wrong in the offseason.
After putting himself in a rehab facility, moving out of his downtown Cleveland apartment and retiring the idiotic "money sign" for which he'd become notorious, Manziel also decided to spend a few days working with a former NFL head coach considered to be one of the best quarterbacking gurus the NFL has to offer.
"Sources have told us that Manziel spent a few days of the week of July 20 in Tampa, working with former Raiders and Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden," Charlie Campbell of Walter Football reported.
"Gruden took a liking to Manziel before the 2014 NFL Draft and was effusive in his praise of Manziel. Thus, Gruden is also motivated to help Manziel to get straightened out."
Gruden has, of course, worked with a number of young signal-callers desperate to get their throwing motions and their career's back on track. Amongst his former pupils is Josh Freeman, another one-time first-round pick who lost his starting job in Tampa and was actually out of the league for a season. He was most recently with the Miami Dolphins roster and looking to lock-up a backup job, but the team jettisoned him Friday.
"With Freeman, Gruden mostly worked in the film room, and Freeman did some work with other coaches like Terry Shea on throwing mechanics," writes Campbell. "By the sound of it, Manziel had some combination of that as well with the ESPN Monday Night Football analyst."
While it's somewhat ironic that Gruden has developed a reputation for working with young signal-callers considering that during his time in the league he never seemed able to draft and nurture one of his own, seemingly preferring to make use of, and actually find quite a bit of success with, older veterans like Rich Gannon and Brad Johnson, it's still likely promising for fans of the Browns to know that Manziel has looked to maximize his offseason time and sought every avenue for upgrade possible prior to Cleveland training camp this month.
Whether he can take a decidedly bigger leap than Freeman and push for an actual starting gig next year or in the future, will be one of the biggest storylines to follow for Browns fans.
