Report: "As Many As Three Teams" Interested In Cleveland Browns QB Johnny Manziel

This morning, we posted the social media reaction to Johnny Manziel being in Los Angeles. The purpose of his trip? Unconfirmed.

But it does come on the heels of a report from last evening at cleveland.com, the online home of the Plain Dealer, that cites a source saying "as many as three teams might be interested" in trading for Manziel which is why he's yet to be released:

The Browns hung onto Manziel on the chance that a team offers them a conditional late-round pick for him. The first day of free agency is such a frenzied period that teams have to focus on signing and re-signing free agents.

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But as many as three teams might be interested in Manziel, a source said, and that's enough for the Browns to give it a day or two to see if anyone bites.

If they felt there was no interest, they would've waived him Wednesday and put the ugly saga behind them. But if a team trades for Manziel, it would assume the remainder of his contract. He has guaranteed base salaries in 2016 and 2017 of $1,169,872 and $1,004,125, and is due a $250,000 roster bonus on the fifth league day of 2017.

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Would a team actually trade for Manziel, who's under investigation by a grand jury in Dallas for misdemeanor assault/domestic violence, and who's facing possible sanctions by the NFL under the personal conduct policy?

Now look. We're all capable of putting two and two together. The question is whether it's warranted.

On one hand, I'd point to the last time we discussed this in December. The Rams have expressed interest in Manziel going back to the draft. And Manziel himself "told people close to him" that the Rams were one of three teams interested in him as recently as last month. The uncertainty at the QB position on the depth chart certainly opens the door for the potential for this to be legit.

On the other hand, Johnny's physical location isn't all that important up until it's time to sign anything...and since he's under contract, it doesn't really matter where he's located necessarily.

So look, I'm not suggesting the Rams are going to trade for Johnny Football or that they're trying to or that they'll sign him once the Browns release him.

I'm just not willing to ignore this. Not with this franchise.