How Active Should Browns Be in Free Agency?
March 10, 2010NFL Draft News: Mock Roundup Sees Eric Berry’s Name Pop Up In Cleveland
March 10, 2010
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.
44 Comments
Yay.
drama
All those roids for nothing.
A: Wildcat.
“This QB roulette wheel is getting old, and I’m tired of QB competitions and general indecisiveness when it comes to selecting QBs.”
Hear! Hear!
It wouldn’t be Cleveland without a QB controversy. I don’t care who plays the position, as long as they can complete something close to 60% of their passes and know what color OUR team is wearing on Sunday. If Holmgren isn’t impressed with the amount of film on Quinn displaying his excellent happy feet and check down ability, well then I don’t blame him.
Great article. I feel the same way.
A: Trading for Troy Smith and playing Smith, Cribbs and Wallace in the backfield all at once. We’ll have the first NFL triple-option offense.
I wish the Browns would take a day off. I’m getting fatigued talking about everything… I’m addicted to WFNY so I can’t just hit that X in the top right corner of my screen…. When do I get payed for all of my insightful comment contributions?
MattyFos= Idiot…
PAID***
Wow… my lack of sleep is catching up to me…. If you see me submit a comment with a bunch of vhobfrvhbvbabhno b u.. It’s b/c I passed out and hit my head on the keyboard.
Maybe they just see Quinn is average at best and want to shop him.
Fos – if one was to get payed by typo, Eli and typo would already have taken up the mispelt allotment.
“let him prepare all offseason as the team’s leader”
He had that chance at the start, but he held out for more money that he hadn’t earned.
I say, “Good riddance.”
Has anyone heard anything on the Ben Watson visit?
@13- Agreed.
People need to wake up and realize he has been a Cleveland Brown long enough to take over and prove himself. When has not had a chance? Behind Frye?? Anderson??? Every since he showed up to training camp he has had a shot to take over. Don’t you think if he was THAT good the reins would have been his and his alone long ago?
He just isn’t that good. Stop holding onto the glory from the draft when we got our left tackle and future Qb in one round. 1 outta 2 ain’t too bad. For us.
I welcome the next QB. If Holmgren has him lined up then I am all about him doing whatever it takes to get him. If he hasn’t found him yet then let Wallace hold it down until he does.
It’s haiku time.
Anyone else havin trouble loading WFNY? Takin a long time to load and some times I get a message that the site is down. I don’t wenna miss any gardening articles
brady’s lurpy* ghosts
untapped potential haunting
cleveland forever
*tee shirt, anyone?
These last three years have served as a clinic on how not to handle the QB position. If they dump Quinn now, it will be the perfect ending to the whole farce.
I cannot seem to find the post on which type of fertilizer to use for petunias. i think it’s oregonian anderson, but i wanted to double-check.
@typo: Our web host has been having some server issues the past few days. They say they’re working on fixing them, but there’s not much we can do about it on our end right now, other than to apologize for the inconvenience.
@21- Well, are you going to apologize?
No need to apologize. Its worth the wate
On the bright side, one day soon we will have an average NFL QB with average skills, like being ok at reading a defense, having a decent enough arm, hitting a receiver on a timing route most of the time, competently working the game clock, making some big plays to win some games some of the time, not crying in public … and because we are Browns fans and we are starving, we will act like he is the second coming of Joe Freakin’ Montana.
Can’t wait. Not kidding.
@15…ditto…finally someone says it like it is. With all the practices over 3 yrs plus games don’t you think its obvious that now two coaching staffs and front offices just don’t see it in Quinn–if you can’t clearly beat out frye and DA then what’s left–move on.
I too believed Quinn deserved a full season to prove himself but he can’t stay healthy and hasn’t looked very good when healthy. There’s not a doubt in my mind Wallace is better and I want the Browns to win now. So my Quinn days are over.
Plus, once we got rid of Andreson, I halfway warmed up to the idea of “destroy and rebuild”. Get rid of both of them and lets start anew…again.
I’m all for getting rid of Quinn. People can say, ‘hey he was never really given the chance!’ Well he was the start opening day last year and didn’t do anything to keep the job. If Holmgren get’s rid of both D.A. and Quinn and brings in someone who can stop the bleeding at the QB position, I’m all for.
It’s funny how the “trade Quinn” crowd talks at length about how horrible he is but somehow expects the Browns to be able to find a trading partner for him. If he’s that bad, how would the Browns be able to trade him?
That being said, the only untouchables on this team are Joe Thomas, Alex Mack and Josh Cribbs. Everyone else is fair game. Not that I’m advocating trading, but teams that consistently go 4-12 don’t really have a lot of keepers.
wasn’t this the exact same rumor from the rumor mill of last off season?
Typo is trying to steal my glorie.
Titus @ 28
(I’m trying, slowly, to get more accepting of hyperbole, rhetoric, and other polemic things in these spaces. Maybe there is no bona fide argumentation occurring here. Maybe people only come here to pee on the wall. Sometimes I do.)
I’m okay with Quinn not starting next year. I think he established that he should (continue to) start if a run-first offense was the order of the day. I don’t think he’s established that he should be the one to midwife a west coast offense next year. If west coast is in the works, I’d think he’d have way better opportunities to shine elsewhere.
I think something good got rolling toward the end of last season, maybe like it was two different seasons. I dream.
@8 I just threw up in my mouth thank you!
Can the poser at #22 already their originality is almost as bush league as their posts.
LoL @ BoogeymanIsRuiningWFNY
That is funny as hel l, I just got my laugh of the day courtesy of that!!!!
” Wallace indicated that his meeting with Mangini and Daboll revealed that the Browns won’t be running exactly a carbon copy of Holmgren’s offense in Seattle.”
A “west coast offense,” per se (if there is such a thing), may not be as important to Holmgren as I thought. That throws a major wrench into my arguments.
/back to the drawing board
The press is reporting Derek Anderson is bad mouthing Cleveland fans? Is WFNY going to cover that????
@ TS T 2B Cavs Dude
You’re joking right? Sarcasm needs to be in all caps…or you’re too lazy to scroll.
Delhomme visiting Cleveland tomorrow. YES! JUST WHAT THEY NEED!
team brady has sarcasm down! lol.
If we can get a 2nd-3rd rounder I would pull the trigger. anything more then that would be cool too.
If Delhomme were to sign with the Browns, would there be any team in league history to have employed more QBs who have thrown 4+ picks in one game?
Just like the Corey’s.
One down, one to go!
@ Broke the Jinx what are you talking about Yahoo has DA as the headline story right now. They’ve gotten the jump on WFNY
@41- do you mean this aritcle?
https://waitingfornextyear.com/?p=25828
Vick Vick Vick!
So, who will we trade Quinn For?
A. Michael “Dawg Pound” Vick
B. One of them guys from the City of Brotherly Love
C. 6 Lousiville Sulgger Baseball Bats
D. We’re Not Going To Trade Him! Now Stop With this Stupid Pole!
E. He Isn’t Worth Anything: RELEASE THE TANNING PRETTY BOY!
1) garcia could have been good if butch davis hadn’t insisted on making him a drop back passer;
2) wallace could be no more than this regime’s version of ken dorsey;
3) just what exactly does ‘discussed dealing BQ with other teams’ mean, especially when there’s a conflicting report? a guy i know has a ’56 buick. he’d never sell it, but he sometimes entertains offers just to get an idea of what it’s worth. if i wanted to get an idea of how well BQ was regarded in the league, one way to do it would be to find his worth in trade. DA was clearly gone, yet not one peep about dealing him, granted, his salary and bonus made him probably impossible to trade, but why not at least try – and have word of that hit the media?