Johnny Manziel has reminded Cleveland Browns' offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan of Robert Griffin III during his early workouts.

"Johnny and Robert are very similar," Shanahan told USA TODAY Sports. "They're both talented guys who can make plays with their legs. But there comes a time in the NFL when they're going to keep you in the pocket, and you're going to have to have that ability to make the throws with your arm and mind.

"And Johnny, just like Robert, has that arm talent and intelligence to do that."

Manziel has been everything Shanahan had hoped.

"Perception becomes everyone's reality, but Johnny has been here working his tail off day and night, doing everything we ask," Shanahan said. "He's really attacked it every day, done a good job even as each week gets harder as we throw a lot more at him.

"I've been very impressed."

Matthew Stafford is quickly learning the Detroit Lions new offensive playbook.

"He's really remarkably bright," offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said. "I've heard that he was a smart player, but the speed and ease with which he picks things up has even surprised me, and I had pretty high expectations coming in."

Stafford freely admits the offense is dense, with a heavy amount of new verbiage and an expansive playbook.

The Seattle Seahawks expect to feature Christine Michael more heavily this season.

Michael had only 18 carries in 2013 while playing behind Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin at running back.

Markus Wheaton has a clear path to become the Pittsburgh Steelers' No. 2 wide receiver this season, but he takes an unusually humble approach for a player at that position.

“There’s a lot of guys chasing that spot and hopefully I can get it first and go from there,” Wheaton said. “They’re pushing all of us to get better, and whoever wants it the most will take it, so I’m going to do what I can to get that spot.” 

“I’m excited to see what he can do,” Ben Roethlisberger said. “He’s a guy that wants to prove that he can be a starter.” 

The Houston Texans' starting quarterback job is "wide open" as they begin OTAs.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum, T.J. Yates and rookie Tom Savage participated on Tuesday.

“These guys are good guys, they’ve been fun to coach,” Bill O’Brien said. “(Quarterbacks coach) George Godsey’s done a great job with them. And I think they’ve enjoyed learning this offense and they’re competing. It looks like there’s good chemistry in the room, which is important in the quarterback room. I’ve been impressed with these guys, the way they work at it.”

Andre Ellington will be the No. 1 running back for the Arizona Cardinals in 2014.

Bruce Arians expects Ellington to get 25-30 touches per game.

Ellington emerged as one of the best young dual-threat backs in the NFL last season.

The San Francisco 49ers have been at the forefront of redshirting drafted players that are undervalued due to injuries.

Tank Carradine and Marcus Lattimore were widely considered first round talents before suffering season-ending knee injuries.

"To answer the question, yes, it is a conscious decision we made to do that," Baalke said from his office Friday, as rookie minicamp kicked off in Santa Clara. "You know there's a possibility that, if the board falls a certain way, that's a decision that could be made. But it's not just the last two years -- we've just been in position to make those picks the last two years. It really comes down to value."

The 49ers most famously took a gamble on that type of player in drafting Frank Gore, who had already torn both ACLs in college.

"Any time a player gets injured, there's the possibility that they never reach pre-injury form again," Baalke said. "That's a reality of what we do. But at the same time, it goes back to the risk-reward and the work you do. What's your research? You can minimize the risk by doing a very good job in researching the injury, in researching the individual. You increase your odds of a positive outcome by being thorough."

Tom Brady was not surprised by the New England Patriots' decision to take Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round.

“I felt like I had a pretty good idea we’d take a quarterback,” Brady tells Peter King of The MMQB.com. “Coach Belichick doesn’t care who the quarterback is here. He’s always going to play the guy who he thinks gives him the best chance to win. It’s not my role to choose players here, thankfully. And this is not the first time they’ve taken another quarterback either. There’s no entitlement in the NFL. I don’t expect to be given anything. I just hope I’m the one most entitled to play that position for a long time here.”

Brady also plans to continue his career for as long as possible and credits his offseason regimen for making him feel physically better in his late thirties than he did in his mid-twenties.

“There’s nothing that can wake me up at 5 o’clock in the morning on a Thursday in May like getting ready for a day of football. I want to play a long time. There’s nothing I like doing that’s close to football. What’ll I do when I’m done playing? I don’t know, but I know it won’t be nearly as fun. I can tell you neither me nor Peyton [Manning] will probably be very far from the game of football when we’re done.”

The Kansas Chiefs continued to utilize De'Anthony Thomas in a variety of spots but he received more work as a wide receiver than he did on Saturday.

Thomas was a fourth round pick out of Oregon.

Thomas lined up in the backfield, but he figures to receive more touches as a receiver.

Brandon Marshall credits the trade that sent him from the Miami Dolphins to the Chicago Bears in March 2012 as being "life-saving and career-saving."

Marshall recently signed three-year contract extension worth $23 million guaranteed.

"I don't think I'd be sitting in this position talking about an extension [if not for the trade to Chicago]," Marshall said. "I probably wouldn't even be having the success that I was having on the field in that environment [in Miami]. It wasn't right for me."