The Sports Xchange

Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel was harassed by a fan at the AT&T Byron Nelson golf tournament.

Manziel’s agent, Erik Burkhardt, told Cleveland.com on Sunday that Manziel responded to the fan’s harassment on Saturday by alerting security officials at the PGA event in Irving, Texas.

The 22-year-old Manziel, a Texas native, was photographed talking to police outside the Four Seasons hotel on Saturday, and the photos began circulating Sunday morning on social media.

Burkhardt told Northeast Ohio Media Group that he and Manziel were attending church in Dallas on Sunday morning.

Irving police spokesman James McLellan said an 18-year-old male fan began harassing Manziel near the Four Seasons’ pool, which is part of the golf course property. Manziel eventually threw a water bottle at the fan, escalating the confrontation, but one of Manziel’s friends stepped in to intervene on his behalf and hotel security also got involved, McLellan said.

Police were called and officers spoke to both parties. Neither decided to press charges. Police did not detect any sign of intoxication with Manziel, McLellan said.

“Johnny threw a water bottle toward this young man. It did not hit him; it hit a wall behind him,” McClellan said. “There is a quote online that said the 18-year-old said, ‘Nice throw.’ I think that kind of escalated things further. At that point, the friend pushed the 18-year-old.”

A Browns source dismissed the incident as a non-story, telling ESPN that Manziel should not be held responsible for obnoxious fans who approach him aggressively.

—Browns quarterback Josh McCown, firmly the No. 1 quarterback in the team’s offseason workouts, hopes it stays that way instead of a battle with Johnny Manziel that would receive lots of media scrutiny.

Head coach Mike Pettine made it clear weeks ago that McCown would be team’s No. 1 passer throughout offseason workouts, minicamp and into training camp and there would be no quarterback controversy.

Pettine said McCown is the favorite to be the Browns starting quarterback over Manziel, a second-year player who continues on the road back from his 10-week stay in rehab.

“More than anything, for me, I just believe it takes away from any kind of distraction that you can have and the team can just move in one direction, regardless of who that guy is,” McCown told the Cleveland Plain Dealer last week on the first day of organized team activities. “It’s helpful to just say, ‘this is our guy until something happens and he’s not our guy.’

“But I agree with that philosophy and that approach. It doesn’t take anything away from our group and it doesn’t take away from what Johnny and Thad (Lewis) and Connor (Shaw) are doing. We’re all working together.”

McCown, 35, was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Feb. 11. The 13-year NFL veteran signed a three-year contract with the Browns worth $14 million, with $5.25 million due in 2015. Overall, the deal guarantees $6.25 million and could be worth up to $20 million.

—Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan plans to learn from his mistakes with the New York Jets and use that experience to shape his new team.

Since arriving in Buffalo in January, Ryan has said the Bills are closing on the Super Bowl-champion New England Patriots.

Ryan had a 46-50 record with the Jets. New York advanced to the AFC Championship Game in each of his first two seasons, 2009 and 2010. Over the past four seasons, however, the Jets finished 8-8 twice, 6-10 and 4-12.

“I’ve had six years of experience,” Ryan told Albert Breer of NFL.com last week at organized team activity practice. “So am I gonna be better now? Of course. You’re not gonna be worse by having experience. The other thing is understanding what’s important, because the second time, I was lucky — I got to choose where to go. The thing about that was, go to an organization where you see the direction, and it’s the same direction (you believe in).

“When I look back on it, I looked at when I should’ve been more upfront with the (Jets) owner. I think that was a big thing: ‘Look, we got some issues, this needs to be resolved.’ I knew what was gonna happen. We all knew it.

“But now, there’s no way in hell (that happens again). If I’m going down, I’m going down swinging. And if it happens, it’s gonna be, ‘Here’s some issues we need to fix.’ And hit them head on.”

—Former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman is returning to the sideline as a high school coach in Massachusetts.

The 60-year-old Sherman, who coached the Packers from 2000 to 2005, accepted the head coaching job at Nauset Regional High School, athletic director Keith Kenyon told the Cape Cod Times.

“It took me a while to pull the trigger,” Sherman said. “It hasn’t been an easy decision because I wanted to make sure I was all 100 percent in.”

Sherman led the Packers to a 57-39 record and four playoff appearances before he was fired after a 4-12 season. He was the head coach at Texas A&M for four years and then returned to the NFL as Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator in 2013. Last year, Sherman worked as a consultant for NFL and college teams.