Cleveland Browns: Austin Davis to start against Bengals

“It has been a wild year”, Davis said following the loss to the Ravens.

He is also under contract with the Browns for next season, and with Manziel uncertain future in Cleveland, Davis may actually be an option for the starting job next season.

With Josh McCown’s season over as a result of a broken collarbone, the Browns apparently will conduct auditions at quarterback over the next five games.

Photos and videos of Manziel partying emerged following the team’s bye week, just a short time after Pettine named him the starter for the remainder of the season.

“Worst-possible scenario for Josh”, coach Mike Pettine said Tuesday during a conference call.

In a surprising turn of events, Austin Davis will get the start at quarterback on Sunday. I think that is one where we see the skill set is the intangible stuff, two, the guys around him, respect him and they see how passionate he is. He went 3-5 as a starter last season for the St. Louis Rams, and has enough experience to make this team somewhat competitive until the season comes to a merciful end. He appeared in 10 games (8 starts) and completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 2,001 yards(7.0 yards per attempt) with 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

This story will be updated.

It may no longer be about what Cleveland Browns troubled quarterback Johnny Manziel deserves right now.

“I’m not on an island when I make these decisions”, Pettine said. With Cleveland likely playing catch up with the Bengals offense, expect a ton of passes from Davis, and Benjamin will look to be the recipient of a majority of those passes.

“To me, it’s more about Austin and seeing what he can do than length of punishment”, Pettine said.

“He’s brought back as a receiver”, Pettine said.

McCown exited the contest in the fourth quarter and was replaced by deputy Austin Davis.

“The insurance policy that he does give us is you at last have viable third quarterback on the roster”, Pettine said. He faced Cincinnati last month and completed 15 of 33 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown in a 31-10 loss.

The coach might not be able to trust Manziel off the field, but he needs to trust him on it.