Cleveland Browns general manager Ray Farmer said Monday that he will not attend Johnny Manziel's pro day on Thursday, hoping instead to maintain a cloak of secrecy regarding his team's intentions.
The Browns own the No. 4 pick in the May draft and quarterback is considered a position of need. Farmer did attend pro days for Teddy Bridgewater and Blake Bortles.
"The systems we're using are really based on keeping everybody in the dark," Farmer told reporters at the NFL owners' meetings in Orlando, Fla., according to ESPN Cleveland. "I like the idea. You know, the more we tell everybody, the more we're at a disadvantage I think we've put ourselves at.
"The fact that people are guessing as to where we're located, where we've been and what we're doing is a good thing. It's a good thing in a sense when you're too visible about certain things, it becomes obvious, and the obvious is not good for us."
Farmer prefers to evaluate during private workouts at a player's school or hometown.
"There's definitely a schedule conflict, and definitely opportunities to talk to all parties that we may or may not be interested in," he told reporters. "A pro day of orchestrated throws, I don't know what that tells you. It's a piece of [the process] that people blow up into this great thing.
"I went to a lot of games and practices this fall. I've seen them throw the ball. I've seen them perform in a lot of ways. So it's not about watching them throw the ball, watching the ball come off their hands. A lot of those things have already been addressed."
