Brian Hoyer: 2014 Browns were ‘a joke’

Brian Hoyer said Friday what we were all thinking about the 2014 Cleveland Browns.

Hoyer was the primary quarterback that went 7-9 under coach Mike Pettine, but it was a season that saw Johnny Manziel drafted and general manager Ray Farmer sticking his nose in the work of his coaches, including offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.

Hoyer is now the starting quarterback in San Francisco under Shanahan, who is now the team’s head coach. And the veteran signal-caller has received assurances that he won’t have to experience anything like that again.

Brian Hoyer, #Browns starter in 2014, said he's in more stable situation: "The situation in Cleveland was a joke. Really, a circus." #49ers

— Eric Branch (@Eric_Branch) September 8, 2017

Brian Hoyer on message in March from Kyle Shanahan, his OC with #Browns in 2014: "We’re not going to have any of that B.S." #49ers

— Eric Branch (@Eric_Branch) September 8, 2017

The story of how owner Jimmy Haslam settled on Manziel — despite the team’s front office apparently favoring Teddy Bridgewater — is one of the all-time great Browns stories. Hard to dispute Hoyer’s assertion that it was a circus in Cleveland.