Johnny Manziel Backs Shedeur Sanders: ‘He’s Got a Real Shot to Win QB1 in Cleveland’

Shedeur Sanders is hardly the only polarizing quarterback the Cleveland Browns have drafted in recent years. In 2019, they took Baker Mayfield, who embraced a villain role during his time at Oklahoma. And before that, the Browns selected an even more infamous signal-caller: Johnny Manziel.

Widely viewed as a tantalizing talent at the time, Manziel had a brilliant career at Texas A&M, but he was never able to escape off-the-field issues, leading to the former first-round pick finding himself oout of the NFL after two years.

There are few signal-callers more qualified to advise Sanders than Manziel, because he has been there before and knows what it's like to make mistakes.

But the 32-year-old envisions a bright future for Sanders, going as far to say that he thinks the Colorado Buffaloes product can win Cleveland's starting quarterback job right out of camp.

"He's going to an opportunity now in Cleveland with a quarterback situation that, honestly, he can come out of and win the job," Manziel said on his Glory Daze podcast. "There's no doubt about that. I think he'll do well. I really do. I think the kid works really hard, I think he loves the game of ball. ... I think he'll be successful."

Manziel won the Heisman Trophy award as a freshman and followed that up by leading the SEC in passing yards, passing touchdowns and completion percentage during his sophomore campaign.

Meanwhile, Sanders racked up 37 passing touchdowns while completing 74 percent of his passes during his final collegiate season, the latter of which led the country.

We'll see if Sanders can overcome the obstacles he is facing to establish himself as the Browns' franchise quarterback in Year 1.