This one is for my hometown of Cleveland and some of the Browns fans who are in a strange sort of denial about Johnny Manziel.

There is a swath of the Cleveland fan base that is stubbornly and vociferously committed to the idea that Brian Hoyer is the answer to the franchise’s two decade search for a legit starting quarterback. These folks are adamant that Hoyer’s three decent games from a year ago are more than enough to convince them the local product is The Man.

These folks get more ammunition behind their argument every time Manziel, the Chosen One by owner Jimmy Haslam and signed off on by new head coach Mike Pettine, makes an unabashed ass of himself. It could be flashing his now-ubiquitous money sign with his fingers, or using a giant wad of cash as a play phone, or drinking champagne at the X-Games while sprawled out on an inflatable swan.

It’s true that Manziel does not make things easy for himself, or for Browns fans. But he’s not going anywhere. The Browns traded up to get him in the first round, and ticket sales exploded as a direct result. Go to Cedar Point and you'll see more Manziel jerseys than you saw LeBron gear back in his Cleveland heyday. He’s got a unique skill set and the ability to create something out of nothing. That should greatly appeal to Cleveland fans, who have dealt with a whole lot of nothing for far too long.

Yet so many seem to think Hoyer should be the unquestioned starter. Some even strongly believe the St. Ignatius alum will lead the Browns to the promised land and force Manziel to be traded away.

This is absolute, unadulterated, delusional nonsense. These folks need Cher to slap them like she did Nicholas Cage in Moonstruck. Snap out of it, Cleveland!

Hoyer is a nice little story. He won all three of his starts a year ago, though the third one deserves an asterisk as he blew out his knee in the first quarter against Buffalo. His numbers were decent: 59% completions, 5 TDs to 3 INTs, QB Rating of 82.6.

Extrapolate those 8+ quarters over the course of a season and Hoyer would have ranked a whopping 22^nd, just behind underwhelming Tampa Bay rookie Mike Glennon. Project it out to a career and he’s Ryan Fitzpatrick, or to make it more appropriate to Cleveland, the next Kelly Holcomb.

Browns fans should recall Holcomb here. As a sporadic starter in the oft-injured Tim Couch era, Holcomb had some impressive outings. He even started the lone playoff game in the reincarnated Browns history, a game where he lit up the hated Steelers for 429 yards and three TDs. Yet those pockets of sporadic greatness never sustained, and Holcomb washed out of Cleveland as a disappointment. He went 4-8 as a starter for the Browns, posting a QB Rating of 83.3 in his Cleveland tenure.

Browns fans should also remember the Derek Anderson phenomenon. Anderson came from off the waiver wire (Baltimore cut him) and unexpectedly thrived in relief of an overmatched Charlie Frye. Sound familiar to Hoyer shining in place of the overwhelmed Brandon Weeden? He led the Browns to a 10-5 record in 2007, even earning a Pro Bowl nod. His QB rating that year was…wait for it…82.5. Remember, Hoyer was 82.3. See any similarities here at all, Cleveland?

Anderson could not sustain his fluky effectiveness. He washed out of Cleveland after going 6-10 as a starter over the next two seasons, unable to definitively beat out Brady Quinn. He’s now carrying a clipboard in Carolina after failing to impress in Arizona.

Speaking of Arizona, the Cardinals tried Hoyer too. But it took him some doing to get to Glendale. First, the Patriots waived him. The QB-desperate Steelers, who were starting third-stringer Byron Leftwich and had wideout Antonio Brown as the only other healthy option, picked him up two months later but quickly concluded he wasn’t good enough to be their stopgap backup. Hoyer then bounced to Arizona, but he couldn’t prove he was better than the likes of John Skelton or Ryan Lindley. Ryan Lindley!

That’s how he wound up back home in the 216. Yes, it’s nice that the North Olmstead native came home and found some redemptive success last year. He was better than Brandon Weeden to be sure. But everything about his limited success last year screams short-term aberration. Just as Cleveland threw its collective hopes and dreams behind Holcomb and Anderson, it’s foolish to do the same with Hoyer. Keep in mind that Hoyer is coming off a devastating knee injury, which certainly cannot help his cause.

Johnny Manziel might not be the answer either, but at least he has the potential to be something that Hoyer can never achieve: greatness. If Browns fans cannot accept that, the factory of sadness will only continue to get into a deeper depression.