Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine said on Monday that the team has no intentions of changing Johnny Manziel’s throwing motion.
Manziel’s elbow is sore, which has caused him to miss practices two weeks in a row now. The Browns believe it might have something to do with his “unorthodox” throwing motion, as Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com puts it, but there are no plans in motion to assist with any changes at this time.
“At this point in his career, we’re not going to try to change his throwing motion,” said Pettine. “I think that’s an advantage that he has. There are times he’ll change his arm angle to make a throw.
“If you stick with your traditional throwing motion, the ball’s either going to get knocked down, (or) you’ve got a guy in your way, you’ve got an outstretched arm, you want to go ahead and drop the ball down a little bit and make a throw. So I think that’s an advantage of his. We just have to be mindful of it and when he does get sore, shut him down.”
The Browns are hopeful that with a day or two of rest the elbow will be fine.
It’s understandable that the Browns coaching staff doesn’t want to fuss with Manziel’s delivery right now. However, using the excuse that it’s beneficial to have that ability might be Pettine’s way of being diplomatic. Quarterbacks don’t NEED to use a 3/4 delivery all the time in order to have the ability to use the skill with the need arises.
That said, plenty of professional signal-callers have compiled brilliant careers utilizing such a throwing motion—Brett Favre being the first to pop into mind.
The concern here has to be for Manziel’s arm, not whether or not he can change his angle of delivery. The kid is just 22 years old, after all. The fact that he’s already dealing with soreness is quite alarming, and if his delivery is causing the pain, then he must address it at some point in the near future.