The Cleveland Browns named Austin Davis as the starting quarterback and Johnny Manziel will serve as the backup for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, coach Mike Pettine announced Wednesday.
Quarterback Josh McCown will miss the rest of the season after fracturing his collarbone in a 33-27 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night. Davis, in relief of McCown, made his Browns debut in Monday’s game. Entering in the fourth quarter with Cleveland trailing by a touchdown, Davis completed 7 of 10 passes for 77 yards, including a 42-yard, game-tying touchdown pass to wide receiver Travis Benjamin.
“Austin took advantage of his opportunity on Monday night. He was prepared, played well and put us in position to win,” Pettine said Wednesday. “He’s been great in the quarterback room all season and he has earned the right to start on Sunday. We expect him to play well.”
The start will be Davis’ first since he joined the Browns in September and ninth of his NFL career. In eight starts and 10 overall appearances with the St. Louis Rams last season, Davis completed 180 of 284 passes for 2,001 yards, 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
McCown started Monday’s game because Manziel, who had been named the team’s starter for the rest of the season, was sent back to the bench and relegated to No. 3 quarterback against the Ravens. Manziel was being punished for reportedly lying to the team about when a video of him partying took place. Manziel claimed the video was old, but the team learned it had been shot during the Browns’ bye week.
McCown was ruled out for the season Tuesday with a broken clavicle and was officially placed on injured reserve Wednesday.
McCown started eight games and completed 186 of 292 passes (63.7 percent) for 2,109 yards with 12 touchdowns, four interceptions and a 93.3 rating. He is leading the NFL with a 129.5 rating on third down this year. Earlier this season, McCown set a Browns’ single-game record with 457 passing yards at Baltimore on Oct. 11 as he became the first player in Browns history to throw for 300 yards in three consecutive games.
“I cannot say enough positive things about Josh McCown, what he’s done for this football team and what he means to this football team,” Pettine said Tuesday.
The Browns also officially signed wide receiver Terrelle Pryor on Wednesday. Pryor is a 6-foot-4, 233-pound veteran officially in his fourth NFL season out of Ohio State. Originally drafted by Oakland in the third round of the 2011 supplemental draft, Pryor has appeared in 15 games with 10 starts at quarterback. He has completed 170 of 302 passes for 1,953 yards with nine touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He has 627 rushing yards with three scores and one reception for 22 yards. Pryor joined the Browns via waivers this offseason and spent training camp with the team before being waived on Sept. 10.
In addition, the Browns signed offensive lineman Dan France to the practice squad and released offensive lineman Ronald Patrick from the practice squad.
The 6-6, 312-pound France is officially in his first NFL season out of Michigan State. Originally, signed by Cincinnati as an undrafted free agent in 2014, France spent all of 2014 and the first 12 weeks in 2015 on the Bengals’ practice squad.