Via TMZ

It’s not just the Browns fans who want Johnny Manziel to start at QB — several Cleveland players are also calling for #2 … telling TMZ Sports it’s “f**ked up” he’s still riding the bench. 

We spoke with 3 starting players on the Browns offense — all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity — who tell us the team wants Manziel under center on Sunday … not Josh McCown. 

One player who admits he’s extremely frustrated with the QB situation says, “I love both Johnny and Josh but its f**ked up when you have Johnny come in and play well and has proven to the team that he is the right person for the job.”

“It’s frustrating to him and us when you sit a player down when he is playing well. Coach has got to understand you are messing up the chemistry and timing with players and its f**ked up.”

Another player tells us, “The team plays better when [Manziel] is in the game. I play better when he plays.”

“You can’t get better unless you play. We won when he played and coach has got to trust him like he trusts Josh.”

A 3rd player added, “When Johnny in the game it puts the defense on edge. He doesn’t just sit in the pocket, he makes plays. Coach has got to make the change now.”

As for McCown, now that’s he’s 0-2 as the starter … he says he “understands” why fans want to see Manziel, but insists he’s still the right man for the job. Now, it seems he’s gonna have to convince his teammates too. 

It is TMZ, so take that for what it’s worth.

I’ll be honest, I did not see this coming. Everything we’ve heard out of Berea has been “This is Josh’s team” or “Josh gives us the best chance to win” or “Josh earned the starting job blah blah blah.” I was not expecting to wake up this morning and see players dropping F bombs saying that Manziel should be playing instead of McCown. It’s week 4 and we’ve already got a full blown QB controversy and players are giving anonymous quotes to a tabloid! What a time to be alive!

Now it’s up to Pettine to not screw this up. He’s already losing the fanbase by starting McCown and now it sounds like he’s losing the locker room too. This has a chance to snowball big time and if Mike doesn’t do something soon I’m afraid he might be in danger of losing his job. Everyone knows this team isn’t making the playoffs. Why go nowhere with a proven, below average commodity like Josh McCown when you have your 1st round draft pick riding on the bench? Johnny has already shown that he can win a game in the NFL. Going 4-12/5-11 with Josh McCown is pointless. At least by going 4-12/5-11 with Manziel you’ll be able to get some sort of gauge on if he’s the QB of the future or not.

Playing Josh McCown when Manziel is on the bench is like willingly drinking warm hose water when you have an ice cold Gatorade sitting in the fridge.

Any guess who the 3 anonymous players are? My picks:

• Travis Benjamin
• Alex Mack
• Isaiah Crowell