Cleveland Browns To Release Johnny Manziel. Rams Up Next?

We've been clear about expectations for our players on and off the field. Johnny's continual involvement in incidents that run counter to those expectations undermines the hard work of his teammates and the reputation of our organization. His status with our team will be addressed when permitted by league rules. We will have no further comment at this time.

- Cleveland Browns EVP of Football Operations Sashi Brown

And with that, the Johnny Manziel era with the Cleveland Browns unofficially came to an end. It is expected to officially come to an end on March 9, the first day of the NFL new year.

Of course the question for Rams fans immediately becomes whether or not Manziel could find himself in horns in 2016. It's a question Tevin Broner asked back in November when it was becoming apparent that whatever the line was for the Browns, Manziel had crossed it.

It didn't take long for agent-driven media takes to fire up:

Johnny Manziel has told people #Cowboys, #Rams, #Chiefs interested in him. Rams had draft interest, Chiefs have none. Thoughts, Jerry?

— Ed Werder (@Edwerderespn) February 2, 2016

Sure, the Rams might have "had draft interest" in Manziel. That was nearly two years ago. Several things, many in fact, have happened since then, things that may have had an impact on how the Rams view Manziel's potential in the NFL.

And Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher even spoke about Manziel leading up to the draft:

We did go to A&M. We worked out [wide receiver] Mike Evans. We worked out [offensive tackle] Jake Matthews and Johnny threw to an additional receiver there, in addition to Mike. Johnny was probably one of a dozen quarterbacks that we worked out over this process.

With respect to Sam [Bradford[, he's our starter. As you guys know, that was the reason I took this job was for our owner and because of Sam, our quarterback. We have all the confidence in the world that he'll be back. But, we also have the responsibility to continue to upgrade this roster as it would suggest. If the right guy is there to help in a backup role to Sam, then we'll make sure we've done our due diligence.

...

We are not shopping Sam.

Welp, that about does it.

Johnny Manziel, your starting Los Angeles Rams QB for 2016.

COMING TO AN UNBUILT STADIUM NEAR YOU pic.twitter.com/nUgHcZaAMo

— Brandon Bate (@NoPlanB_) February 2, 2016