Brian Hoyer had a chance to become an NFL starter when he first left the New England Patriots in the early 2010s.
But according to Johnny Manziel, Hoyer’s desires came at the expense of his Cleveland Browns carer.
Hoyer signed with the Browns after a short stint with the Arizona Cardinals. Cleveland drafted Manziel in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft, but Hoyer was the starter. The competitive quarterback room led to tensions during weekly meetings that Manziel called out last week on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast with Shannon Sharpe.
“My quarterback room was not a home for me because of Brian Hoyer,” Manziel told Shannon Sharpe.
The 31-year-old claimed Hoyer made snide comments toward him when asked a question over and over again. Manziel believes that stunted his growth during his rookie season and said that it wasn’t until Josh McCown arrived the following season that he learned how to be a professional.
Hoyer had his chance to respond to Manziel on Tuesday during an appearance on “Good Morning Football” and even revealed how he heard about his former Browns teammate’s comments.
“I’m on my vacation last week in Florida, and I get a text from Mac Jones,” Hoyer said. “He goes, ‘Hey, funny I didn’t get this treatment as a rookie.’ And look, I’ll be honest: Johnny’s right. That was an opportunity for me to go out and be a starter for my hometown team. But I was kind of apathetic toward him I would say. I didn’t go out of my way to be a jerk to him, but in the same sense, I was trying to win this job and go and perform the best I could. I feel sorry he feels that way about it. I never had any animosity toward Johnny. If anything, it was toward the owner and the GM who were always trying to push him ahead of me when he clearly wasn’t ready and I was going to be the starter. It’s unfortunate that left a bad taste in his mouth. But like I said, I never had any animosity toward Johnny, and I feel bad that he feels that way. But I don’t really recall it being that way either.”
Hoyer’s and Manziel’s Browns careers were short-lived, but there still are lingering feelings from that era.
