With three days left until draft day, the Johnny Manziel-to-Cleveland Browns train is being pulled in two separate directions.
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One direction is spurred by NFL Media's Charley Casserly, a former general manager, who insists the Browns' staff is not interested in Manziel.
However, at least one man in Cleveland's organization might be smitten with the quarterback.
"Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has a love affair with Manziel," NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport said Monday on "NFL Total Access Draft Preview." (Haslam) has made no secret of this, in several conversations, according to people I've spoken with over the last year or so. This is something that Haslam has made very clear to people he speaks with. He's an SEC guy ... He's seen Manziel a ton, he loves the way he plays. Plus, there is the thing that he would fill up the seats."
As Rapoport noted on NFL Network, the key for the Browns at the No. 4 overall pick could depend upon who will make the selection. Will it be general manager Ray Farmer or Haslam?
Will the owner overstep his first-time GM, whom he empowered in a sweeping regime change, to take the dynamic quarterback?
If the Browns do end up passing on a quarterback at No. 4, Rapoport reports they could look at Teddy Bridgewater with their second pick in the first round (No. 26) -- assuming he falls that far.
Cleveland likes that Bridgewater is the most NFL-ready quarterback in the draft but could also sit a year if Brian Hoyer comes back healthy after ACL surgery.
An interesting scene might play out in the Browns' war room if Manziel is still on the board when Cleveland goes on the clock at No. 4. But things like that only happen in the movies, right?
The latest "Around The League Podcast" breaks down draft news and rumors and plays the popular prediction game, "Go Get My Lunch!"
