This has already been such a whirlwind and tumultuous offseason for the Cleveland Browns organization, and no position has faced more uncertainty than the QB. As the Browns were shopping for the man to take over the Czar role in Berea, questions arose about how each of the candidates would handle the QBs on the roster.
Once Holmgren was hired, the common initial perception was that Holmgren would remove head coach Eric Mangini and bring in a West Coast Offense guy. Well, that didn’t happen, and so Mangini was given the chance to prove himself this season. Again, there were initial thoughts then that Mangini would now let Brady Quinn finally be the announced starting QB in the off season, giving him a full year to prove himself. However, the trade for Seneca Wallace at least raised some doubts about who the starter would be. Throw in all the pageantry surrounding Derek Anderson’s release, and you have yourself a real life soap opera unfolding right before your eyes.
The funny thing is, there’s so much drama over QBs here in Cleveland, and none of them have ever even been any good. We had high hopes with Tim Couch, and quite frankly, I still think Couch could have been good in the right system, but taking over an expansion franchise who was being punished by the NFL for the way the league gave the Jaguars and Panthers championship-caliber talent in the previous expansion, and you have a recipe for disaster, and that’s what we got. Then there was the whole Kelly Holcomb thing, with a little Spergon Wynn thrown in for good measure. Then it was Jeff Garcia’s turn to play savior, before he was promptly replaced by Trent Dilfer, when the Browns drafted Charlie Frye to replace Dilfer. Oh, and then Derek Anderson was brought in to back up Frye before Quinn was drafted. Then when Frye faltered and was traded, it was DA’s turn. Now, we’re left with Quinn and Wallace, and just looking at that list is crazy. The inability of this franchise to find a decent QB is baffling.
So now, things could be changing even further. Adam Schefter reported via Twitter this afternoon that Quinn might be the next to go:
QB Derek Anderson out of Cleveland, and he might not be alone. Browns have discussed dealing QB Brady Quinn with other teams.
It’s really enough to make me shake my head. If I can upfront and honest, I’ll admit that I do not think Brady Quinn has what it takes to be a great NFL QB. However, as I wrote during the season last year, the roll of game film on Quinn is incomplete. I believe you do need to give a QB 2 years of starting/consistent playing time before you can make a fair ruling on their potential. Despite having been in the league for 3 seasons now, Quinn still has only 9 career starts under his belt. To trade him now would be a bit presumptuous on the part of the new Browns front office, but on the other hand, perhaps they merely are trying to put their stamp on the franchise and bring in “their guy” to be the QB.
Whatever the case, if they really have been shopping Quinn around, I wonder what the fallback plan is, beyond letting Seneca Wallace be the starting QB. Perhaps drafting Sam Bradford if he happens to fall? Perhaps trading for McNabb or Kolb (or even *gulp* Michael Vick)? Who knows right now what the thinking is, but if it were up to me, I would still just give the job to Quinn, announce it now, and let him prepare all offseason as the team’s leader and starting QB and give him a year to show me what he can do. This QB roulette wheel is getting old, and I’m tired of QB competitions and general indecisiveness when it comes to selecting QBs.
