“I think the Browns should name either Frye or Quinn the starter, the other the back-up and the Ken Dorsey the third guy. Try to trade Derek Anderson for either a sixth- or seventh-round pick…”
That’s what I wrote on August 20 (I think I wrote it more then once but didn’t feel like looking through all the post to find it again). It took the Cleveland Browns and GM Phil Savage 22 days to realize the same thing I knew then. So what if I had the wrong guy traded, I knew one of them had to go. It made no sense to have both Frye and Anderson on the roster when they are basically the same quarterback and neither will play after week seven.
I do feel bad for Frye. Well, not bad, but maybe sad. The kid was suppose to be the hometown boy coming to quarterback the Cleveland Browns to the next level. They were going to build the team around him, not through him. He was the kid with the Bernie Kosar poster in his room, living out his childhood dream. And now it’s gone.
But that’s the NFL. If you play like Frye played, no one cares what your childhood dreams were. Frye went 6-13 as a starter, 62.7 completion percentage, 14 TDs, 23 INTs, 11 fumbles, was sacked 71 times and had a passer rating of 71.1. With those numbers, on any other team he wouldn’t have lasted as long as he did.
There are two funny things about this trade (Actually, there is a lot more but two main ones). For the first time ever, a team’s opening day starting quarterback was traded before the second game of the season.
Think about how bad that is for a minute. You have all offseason, all training camp, all preseason, to pick a starting quarterback. Then you name one, watch him play one game (in this case, one and a half quarters), then trade him two days later. What’ that say about your quarterback situation?
That question leads us right into the second funny thing about the trade. Frye “won” the starting spot since Quinn held out for 11 days and Anderson hits his receivers in the hand as often as Samuel L. Jackson says no to a movie role. The Browns decided to keep both guys, meaning they had to cut Ken Doresy, meaning they thought Doresy brought nothing to the table. Now, less than two weeks later, they decided their “starting” quarterback isn’t good and they trade him. Their “back-up” is now good enough to be the “starter” and the guy they cut, now, all of a sudden brings something to the table. There’s some decision making skills and stability for you.
Like I said back on Aug. 20, Dorsey should be the third guy since Brady Quinn likes him. Dorsey’s a good mentor to him even if that’s like attending Gambling Anonymous and choosing Charles Barkley as your mentor. How come it took the Browns two months to realize this? Didn’t they listen when Quinn said he is learning a lot from Dorsey and he is the only quarterback helping him? What was the point of keeping Frye and Anderson when the season was really about getting Quinn ready to play? And why cut the guy Quinn is closest to, and the guy who knows the offensive system the best?
I agree with the move to trade Frye, I just don’t understand why it took them this long to realize they had to do something like this.
Now there is going to be more pressure from the fans and outside forces to start Quinn. It seems as if Quinn won’t get to play until after the bye week, and that’s OK. The Browns have the Bengals, Raiders, Ravens, Patriots, Dolphins, all before the bye week. Each has a pretty good defense. The Bengals might have the weakest but they still looked really good Monday night. If Quinn doesn’t start against them, and since they already said Anderson would start, Quinn should wait until Oct. 28 at St. Louis. Then again, this is the organization that said Frye was their man, and now he’s gone. So maybe Quinn will start sooner than later.
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Sorry about no post yesterday. I was at a meeting all morning then had a bunch of other stuff to do. I really wanted to comment on this trade yesterday but just didn’t have the time. I appologize.
And by the way…
INDIANS MAGIC NUMBER: 11.
