Was Derek Anderson a Disappointment as a Cleveland Brown?
Written By: Jacob Rosen | Category: Cleveland Browns | Comments: 15
We have already covered the Derek Anderson release for a while here at WFNY, but I wanted to bring one more perspective to the table. Regardless of your thoughts on his essential replacement in Seneca Wallace, do you believe that the Derek Anderson era in a Browns was disappointment?
I honestly can’t bring myself to think so. In my mind, the 2007 Pro Bowl and the 10-6 record that season was a pleasant surprise and a quick breath of hope to the city. Did I expect that season? Absolutely not. Did I see it as a trend for which to set new markers of my expectations? Nope, because in Cleveland especially, one decent season of not even making the playoffs doesn’t prove anything.
Let me remind you that Anderson came to Cleveland via waivers in 2005 from Baltimore. He was a journeyman quarterback without a home before the Browns gave him a shot. It was a slow and steady progress for the former Oregon State Beaver, but he had his one shining moment with the 2007 season.
If you recall, Trent Dilfer was the Browns starting quarterback for the bulk of the 2005 season, with Charlie Frye playing for about a quarter of the season. The next season, it was Frye getting the vast majority of the opportunities while the little known Anderson threw the ball 117 times. In that season, Anderson had a QB rating of only 63.1, not setting a very high bar for himself as a pro in the NFL.
Certainly, we can continue to talk about his records as well as the team’s records from 2007 all day long. That was a fun team to watch, and Anderson’s 3,787 yards along with 29 touchdowns were a huge reason why. That team had two receivers with 1,100 yards as well as a running back with over 1,300 yards in Jamal Lewis. I can’t imagine that happening in Cleveland again anytime soon…
Then of course, Anderson faded into obscurity with his final two seasons as a Brown. Injuries were the main reason in 2008 as after his 66.5 QB rating, the position jumbled between Ken Dorsey, Brady Quinn and Bruce Gradkowski. Finally, in 2009, Anderson put up an NFL-worst 42.1 QB rating with 182 passing attempts on the season.
Thus, when I heard that the Derek Anderson era was being labeled a disappointment, I had to check in on the reality of the entire situation. For starters, Anderson came into Cleveland with no expectations as a decent college quarterback with no professional experience. His first season was a dud behind Charlie Frye and his final two years were miserable in one of the worst offenses in NFL history.
Yes, I am aware he at one point fell from being Pro Bowl-caliber to worst in the league, but how can you not see that season as just a simple fluke? Anderson ended up in Cleveland as a journeyman quarterback without a home and that is his current state right now. Overall, the Anderson era in Cleveland was certainly very turbulent, but the team is not significantly worse off in 2010 as they were in 2005. So calling his entire career here as a Brown a disappointment is a little bit of a stretch.
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(Photo above via AP and found at this link here)
Author: JacobRosen
Jacob Rosen is a weekend author for WFNY, the sports editor for the University of Dayton's Flyer News and the current media relations director of the Akron Aeros. Jacob is an Akron native who majors in applied mathematical economics at UD. You can follow him on Twitter @udjrosen or e-mail him at udjrosen(at)gmail(dot)com.Jacob Rosen has written 252 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
Yes. Next article…
his fluke (half of a) season set the stage for two years worth of QB controversy during which the Browns should have been developing their 1st rd draft pick.
My disappointment with DA began right after the loss to a bad Bengals team that could have sent the Browns to the playoffs. What did he throw? 4 ints? and in the interview after, he more or less said “eh, what are you gonna do?” THAT did it for me.
I hate knowing that I drank the Kool Aid Phil Savage served when explaining why we re-signed DA.
I saw the downturn in the 2nd half of 2007…it started when DA started making better decisions…ironically. Instead of letting it rip like he did the first half of the year, he started checking down and missing the short throws.
He hasn’t been the same since.
Great question the natural answer is HELL YES but if you remember how he came to Cleveland and what it cost and all the rest the more natural question would be: Are you surprised he lasted with the Browns as long as he did?
Obviously his “Pro Bowl,” I put that in quotations because these days a Pro Bowl appearance doesn’t mean what it once did, was indeed a fluke and even then as others have mentioned when he was needed the most that season he shrunk like a violet.
The guy had the tools – the arm and the size unfortunately football intelligence appears to be severely lacking. The fact he could complete a 40 yard pass and not a 4 yard pass is a perfect example of his shortcomings.
I believe that this whole QB situation over the last few years says much more about the incompetence of the front office and coaches- especially Phil Savage Romeo Crennel- than it does about the incompetence of Frye or DA or Quinn. Somebody had to sign or draft the QB’s and make decisions about who starts and who gets practice reps. That has to fall at the feet of Savage and Crennel. The failure is all theirs in my mind.
Your point about DA arriving as a journeyman and leaving in exactly the same state is not totally correct either. He arrived as a journeyman and left as a MUCH wealthier journeyman. That’s where the disappointment comes from. The DA contract has got to be one of the biggest mistakes made by any franchise not named the Raiders. That contract, on the heels of drafting a first round QB the previous year, was far more damaging than any pick DA threw or dump-down completion on 3rd down from Quinn.
It was a fluke yes, but I think the disappointment came when he got the big contract and failed to deliver. I guess we should’ve seen it when he choked under pressure. I’m still disappointed in the whole situation, so I guess it can be a disappointment depending on how you look at it.
He was never good. His stats were inflated from a couple huge games against the worst teams in the league…Cincy, Miami, STL come to mind. The guy was is and always will be a loser. End of story.
He was never good. His stats were inflated from a couple huge games against the worst teams in the league…Cincy, Miami, STL come to mind. The guy was, is, and always will be a loser. End of story.
is water wet?
Anderson was disappointing in that he showed us glimpses of potetntial, only to ultimately find out he wasn’t any good. Just good enough to go 10-6, but not good enough to make the playoffs; just good enough to do well in 2007, but not in 2008. Whenever expectations rose, Anderson’s play declined (1st half of 2007 vs. 2nd half). That was disappointing.
yes. . . duh.
I saw enough in 2008 to say he was a disappointment. 2009 only reinforced that. He could not throw short passes, come on now.
We all saw the wheels coming off when he threw 4 interceptions against the Bengals thus blowing our playoff hopes. The down hill slide was pretty rapid from that point. A canon for an arm means nothing if you don’t know the ball is going. His comments after being released just show his classless attitude. I say good bye, I hope you land on a team we will play this year. It will help our interception total climb.
I blame Phil Savage abd his weird love affair for DA. Phil brought him from Baltimore then held Romeo hostge by forcing Romeo to play DA.. You cant blame Romeo or DA. Romeo wanted to play BQ in 08 and said prior to training camp ‘every position is up for competition’.. Savage said it’s DAs job to lose, which he did 3 times…. Its not DAs fault he’s an incompetent puppet, is it?
You Cleveland fans are delusional. DA’s a good QB. He had a great year when other players stepped up. The next year receivers were dropping passes and eventually were traded away. You never had a running game. And this year the O line offered no pass protection. The Cleveland front office and coaching staff kept playing the Brady card which inspired no one’s confidence. Finally, when the over-rated, over-hyped Brady got in the game he tanked. And now he’s off to Denver to carry a clipboard behind Orton.