Hue Jackson: Browns will take stand on Johnny Manziel

Maybe that’s why the new coach of the Browns spent the first five-plus minutes of his Wednesday press conference in filibuster mode, praising a newly reshaped Cleveland front office led by Sashi Brown and a fresh-formed coaching staff determined to right the ship.

“His future with this team will be addressed pretty soon”, Jackson said, “but let me say this …”

“Obviously there were some people involved in the situation that happened and I feel really bad about those things as they do happen”, Jackson said. “The Browns organization is going to take a stand. We’re going to move on from those types of situations”. Behavior consistent with what Manziel has done in his first two years with the Browns, which Jackson likely saw parts of as a division rival with the Cincinnati Bengals, will not be something he allows with his new team. Jackson also talked about Johnny Manziel.

“It’s about team. What I want our players to buy into is we’re going to be a football team that will be accountable to each other”. As of now, Hue Jackson is not willing to commit one way or the other. I guarantee that. Everybody wants me to say it’s the second pick. With the No. 2 overall pick in the upcoming draft, the Browns have a ton of flexibility. If a guy fits for us and what we’re looking for, we’ll draft him regardless of where he’s from at the position we think he’s draftable.

“We have seven rounds”, Jackson said. The Browns will be all over Cal’s Jared Goff, Memphis’ Paxton Lynch, North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz and Michigan State’s Connor Cook at the combine. Oviously there’s been some things well-documented about some players here and again I take them on a case-by-case basis and see if they fit exactly what it is that I’m talking about when I’m saying that. “We’re going to evaluate them just like we do everyone else in this draft”.

While he obviously did not go into specifics, Jackson made it clear what the Browns intend to do on the final weekend in April in Chicago.

“I want guys that have high character and guys that have high football character, and I think those two are a little different”, Jackson said.