Browns general manager Ray Farmer stressed Tuesday in his wrap-up press conference that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam did not pull the trigger on drafting Johnny Manziel, who's showing strong signs that he might not cut it with the Browns.
"He did not,'' said Farmer. "At the end of the day, Jimmy did not make the call. I know a lot of people want to stick that on Jimmy. But for the world to hear, Jimmy Haslam did not make that call. He didn't try to influence the decision, he didn't try to push it in a different direction, he did none of those things.''
The impression that Haslam made the call came from the infamous post-draft radio interview with quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains, but a source said Loggains never meant to give that impression during the interview and that it was clearly Farmer's decision.
"We're sitting there and they keep showing Johnny on T.V. and Johnny and I are texting and he shoots me a text and he says, 'I wish you guys would come get me. Hurry up and draft me because I want to be there. I want to wreck this league together.'
"When I got that text, I forwarded it to the owner and to the head coach (Mike Pettine),'' Loggains said on Sports Talk with Bo Mattingly on Arkansas ESPN. "I'm like 'this guy wants to be here. He wants to be part of it.' As soon as that happened, Mr. Haslam said, 'pull the trigger. We're trading up to go get this guy.'''
Farmer noted things didn't transpire exactly like that.
"Again, I can say wit 100 percent certainty, Dowell Loggains was not in the room when that discussion happened,'' said Farmer.
Haslam said during a Pro Football Hall of Fame luncheon in May that Farmer not only made the decision to draft Manziel, but to trade up from No. 26 to No. 22 to take him, surrendering a third-round pick in the process.
"Ray's the one that picked Johnny Manziel," Haslam said. "We took the top-rated quarterback on our board when he was available. That was solely Ray's call, not my call."
He added, however, that "Ray gets a lot of input, Ray's the one that decided to make the trade, Ray's the one that picked Johnny Manziel, Ray's the one that made those calls and that's his job. I want to make that very clear.''