All Hail the Mighty Quinn

Amid much hoopla and fanfare, Brady Quinn is officially a Cleveland Brown now.

(Silence.)

(Crickets chirping.)

Oh, that’s right – I, along with the rest of the city and Browns Backers nationwide, are supposed to hail Mr. Quinn as the next coming of, well, Touchdown Jesus himself.

Excuse me for my indifference. It’s just that we’ve heard this same old song and dance with the Browns and their quarterbacks since the Bernie Kosar era. And how many of those quarterbacks have panned out or played anywhere close to expectations?

(Go ahead and check. I’ll wait. I’ve got nothing but time.)

Did you find any? Tim Couch or Kelly Holcomb? Trent Dilfer or Jeff Garcia? Charlie Frye?
All of those quarterbacks were supposed to be the cornerstone of the franchise (Couch), or the emerging NFL-ready starter (Holcomb), the cagey veteran to put us over the top (Dilfer/Garcia), or the gritty hometown hero come to turn around the organization’s fortunes (you get the point).

Now we’ve got Quinn, who only cost us a first-round pick next year and over $20 million (at least) in guaranteed money. Don’t get me wrong – I mean, I want the guy to be a Hall of Fame quarterback and lead us to like nine championships.

But he hasn’t even taken one pre-season snap yet!!!

Remember, this is the same guy who was blasted constantly in college for never being able to win, or generally perform well, in the big game. Ohio State overmatched him in the Fiesta Bowl. This past season, Michigan knocked him silly. He did put up great numbers against the service academies and a bad Michigan State team, though.

Conveniently, many of the same people who held that over his head now believe he’s the savior. I will reserve judgment for when I see him in pads in the regular season.

Can Quinn turn out to be a great quarterback? Of course. There’s no question about his skills. And neither Frye nor Derek Anderson have really distinguished themselves yet, according to everything out of Berea.

But honestly, it doesn’t even take a great quarterback to win games (see: Grossman, Rex.) It takes a great team. That’s the problem the Browns need to solve, not the contract escalators and bonuses for a rookie quarterback.