"Brady Quinn in Cleveland: Now he's done."

Tweet Brady Quinn had been called many things. He was football’s golden quarterback when he was with Notre Dame, following in the footsteps of the greats and getting ready to launch his superb NFL career. He was called a top five draft pick by analysts, and then he sat there and waited and waited until the Cleveland Browns passed on him once and still had time to come back and get him later. Still, he was called The Future. A Winner. All of these things that meant he was there to eventually save Cleveland’s dismal franchise.

Not now. Now he’s gone to Denver for a backup fullback and late picks. He can’t even get the job from the one guy who gave Jay Cutler a run for his money in the INT race last year.

I went on the Brows forum and they were still calling Quinn things, but they were not good things. They were calling him mediocre at best. A failure. Washed out. They were talking about how he was not good and they were glad he was gone, which made me wonder if they’d looked at their current quarterback roster any time in the last, you know, few days. They were calling Quinn a bust and they were calling him something that I thought was awesome:

Captain Checkdown.

Not a nickname you want in the NFL. Quinn won’t be changing his last name to Checkdown any time soon, or inventing a dance where he pretends to throw short, inaccurate passes after scoring a touchdown.

Here’s my take on it:

It’s a good trade for the Broncos. They get someone who at the very least can be a backup quarterback. Chris Simms proved last year in Denver that apparently all quarterbacking talent is held in the spleen. Quinn has that, so he should be good. I don’t think that he’ll beat Orton out of the starting job unless Cleveland had even less talent than I thought and he is actually a superstar who has been held down. I think McDaniels, who is supposed to be very good with quarterbacks, will take some time to see if he can mold Quinn into a starter. There’s no pressure, and if he can’t, they can just let the guy go in two or three years.

It’s maybe a good trade for the Browns. Hillis is a beast and can run people over: something you need in that division. He had a good rookie year in Denver and then hurt his leg and then disappeared his sophomore year. I think he could start in Cleveland based on two things: 1) they need someone who can line it up and power for three or four yards and 2) there is no one else in Cleveland save for Joshua Cribbs who has any athletic talent.

As far as Quinn is concerned, I think the best point I heard was that he’s going to be able to throw the deep ball better in Denver. That much is a guarantee. Is it Josh McDaniel’s coaching that will do it? The much better offensive line and receiving corps? No. It’s the fact that he’ll play in Mile High. Those passes might be as horrible as ever, but at least they’ll go a long way.

BYLINE:

Jonathan Schlosser is a writer and part-time library worker. He has published some short fiction and is working on finding a publisher for his novel. He has a B.A. in Writing, which means that, for a living, he is allowed to put away books at the library. He is also allowed to tell parents to tell their children to be quiet. He lives in Grand Rapids, MI. Email Jonathan at jonathan@zoiksonline.com.

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