Johnny Manziel Season Over: Cleveland Browns Rookie Injured In Loss To Carolina- Will NFL Team Cut Or Trade Him Before 2015 Kickoff?

Johnny Manziel's season is over, as the Cleveland Browns rookie phenom suffered a hamstring injury against the Carolina Panthers on the weekend and will not play on Sunday at Baltimore. But will Johnny Football return to Cleveland for the 2015 NFL season? In the meantime, with fellow Cleveland QB Brian Hoyer also nursing an injured shoulder and former Washington Redskins QB Rex Grossman turning down the Browns offer to play this week, it means Cleveland will have to turn to a variety of veteran castoffs and other rookies to fill their quarterback void against Baltimore.

The question remains, will Manziel return in 2015 to the NFL team that drafted him out of Texas A&M  22nd overall. Browns coach Mike Pettine said Manziel did "some good things," but that it was "unfortunate he got hurt," and for his part, Manziel says he wants "to be the guy," for Cleveland next year.

Meanwhile, ESPN reported that both Manziel and Hoyer were injured, and that the Browns called Rex Grossman, but as he was hosting family for the holidays, they couldn't work out "logistics". After all, who would want to start for the Browns rather than enjoy Christmas?

NFL.com's Ian Rapport reported that veteran former Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills QB Tyler Thigpen has signed with the team for the week.

Tyler Thigpen has signed with the #Browns, source says. One more QB to the mix

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 23, 2014

While Browns backup, undrafted rookie Connor Shaw - "who has spent the entire season on the practice squad" - is also going to get first team reps reports clevelandbrowns.com's Andrew Gribble:

Hoyer's status also in doubt because of a shoulder injury. Big increase in practice snaps coming for Connor Shaw.

— Andrew Gribble (@Andrew_Gribble) December 22, 2014

According to Gribble, Cleveland coach Mike Pettine told reporters "We have one week left," Pettine said. "We're going to focus all our energy and effort into that one. When we're done from that one, we're going to focus all our effort and energy into next season. There's a lot to soak in.

As for who will be their quarterback heading into next year, Pettine was happily ambiguous and uncommitted, saying "We're going to evaluate everything we've done in our football operations from A to Z and quarterback's going to be a big part of it."

Manziel, says Pettine, has "made strides." Added the coach "I know it was a lot to throw at him as a rookie just coming from the system in which he played in. I just think it's difficult, sometimes, to evaluate the player when you're not necessarily playing at a high level around him. There were times that I think that we made both Brian and Johnny look very average to below average because we were missing some assignments or doing some things technically wrong around them."

Manziel was one of the most hyped prospects coming out of the 2014 NFL draft, but only started two games late in the season for the Browns, and for the year completed 18 of 35 passes for 175 total yards, with zero touchdowns and two interceptions.

But hey. At least he had a snickers commercial, right?