Brady Quinn Needs to Get to Cleveland Browns Training Camp —— NOW
August 4, 2007 by dwil
Brady Quinn, former Notre Dame quarterback, said repeatedly that he felt that he was the best quarterback in the draft and should be the first QB drafted. Well, he wasn’t. That honor went to number one pick JaMarcus Russell, formerly of LSU, and the Oakland Raiders. The Cleveland Browns, with the third overall pick in the first round, picked offensive lineman Joe Thomas of Wisconsin. Quinn’s stock dropped like a rock and the Browns were able to draft him with the number 22 overall pick.
Quinn’s reaction? An eight-day and counting holdout.
The rookie QB and his agent Tom Condon think Quinn should receive a contract befitting a higher draft choice, because of a perceived “quarterback premium.” a number 20, to be exact. Browns GM, Phil Savage, feels he knows better:
“If you’re not going to rank the players one through 22, or one through 32, then there’s no reason to have a draft,” Savage said. “We should just have free agency for college players. The draft is the structure that was set up so that there would be some order to it.
“Fifty years from now when they look into the history books of the Cleveland Browns, it is going to say, Brady Quinn, 22nd pick of the first round.”
The move by Quinn is bolstering the perception that the former Notre Dame QB is a prima donna with an over-inflated sense of self. The Browns GM continued to, ummm, savage Quinn:
Appearing on the team’s flagship radio station, WTAM 1100-AM, Savage discussed the weeklong holdout that doesn’t appear close to ending. Quinn, the No. 22 pick, missed his 10th full-squad practice Thursday.
“Our first proposal given to Brady’s representatives was May 23,” Savage said. “It’s not as if we’ve been sitting here for two months doing nothing. The last time I checked, three plus 19 equals 22.”
That was a shot at Quinn’s side, which seems to be insisting on more money than the No. 22 pick would normally get. The reasoning is that Quinn was a top-rated quarterback and the Browns traded a No. 1 pick in 2008 to get him. Savage’s counter is that he took Joe Thomas No. 3, then didn’t draft Quinn for another 19 picks.
“All of a sudden, the Browns are going to shift gears and try to extract blood from the quarterback we picked, that we say is going to be the face of the franchise, that we say is the future of this team,” Savage said. “That makes no sense, isn’t logical. I think people are smart enough to figure that out.”
Terry Pluto, Browns and NFL writer for the Akron Beacon-Journal, is even more to the point in his assessment of Quinn’s holdout:
As you work out in Arizona or wherever, have you dared to ask yourself, ”Just what am I doing?”
Do you realize that your holdout makes it seem like you have an overblown sense of entitlement? That you not only are hurting yourself by holding out, but also not helping the team that saved you from even a bigger free-fall in the NFL Draft?
Brady, the Browns picked you at No. 22.
It doesn’t matter that they once said you were among the top five players on their draft board. Or that you thought you should, as a quarterback, go higher than 22nd. Or that your college coach Charlie Weis thinks you are the next Tom Brady. Or that you went to Notre Dame.
You still were picked 22nd.
The only reason you didn’t sink lower is the Browns made a deal with the Dallas Cowboys to stop your skid at 22. As you sat there forever in that room sweating in your suit on national TV during draft day, did you ever wish you had gone fishing with Joe Thomas instead?
Damn, that’s rough.
What’s rougher is that for all Quinn’s bluster, he never won a meaningful game in college and no, a comeback against a weak-minded Michigan State team doesn’t count. I remember writing that Quinn had a distinct inability to place blame on himself for Notre Dame’s losses while he disappeared in big games.
Though Condon has invited Savage to end the holdout, contract talks remain at a standstill and Quinn is a no-show at Browns training camp. Savage and Condon remain less than $1 million apart on the guaranteed money (a sticking point from the outset of talks), but are apparently about $2.5 million apart on incentives, which can add $10 million to the total contract package. Condon wants Quinn’s deal to mirror that of another Condon client, number 20 overall pick cornerback Aaron Ross (New York Giants). Ross received and signed a 5-year $13.5 million deal, including an $8 million signing bonus. The Browns say they are willing pay a premium – one that reflects the dollars the number 21 overall pick free safety Reggie Nelson received: a 5-year $13.1 million deal, including a $7.1 million bonus.
While the dollar drama continues, quarterback Derek Anderson, who played admirably last season, is gunning for the number one spot in the quarterback depth chart. Whether he starts or no, Charlie Frye is slotted to be the second Cleveland QB. That makes Quinn number three. And the longer the contract negotiations continue, the larger the gap between the backup quarterback and the clipboard-holding only number three QB becomes. Cleveland head coach Romeo Crennel hoped to have Quinn in training camp from day one, but now realizes that the rookie’s holdout might be a blessing in disguise for his other two quarterbacks:
“What it has done,” Crennel said of Quinn’s absence, “is given Frye and Anderson more reps, given them an opportunity to take the bull by the horns to get a leg up. We know Brady is a good talent. That’s why we chose him.
“(But) the longer he’s out, the tougher that becomes, once we start game-planning and things like that. He’s missed all that fundamental work. The foundation has to be laid. It’s hard to catch up on that.”
Hopefully Quinn is feeling the increasing strength of the tremors beneath his feet. If the ground becomes any shakier an irreparable rift will begin to form between Quinn and his teammates; and for a Quinn, that can mean he will never earn his peers’ respect. However, if Quinn, Condon, Savage and the Browns can come to terms over the weekend, Brady will be the likely recipient of a good-natured hazing from his teammates. That will be that and everyone can get on with the business of preparing for the regular season.
Here’s hoping the Quinn camp chooses the latter course.
He needs to get over it and come to training camp. He was picked 22nd in the draft. His value has dropped. Why is it so hard for him to understand this?!
http://alltalksports.wordpress.com/
I’m outraged, I mean doesn’t Brady Quinn feel lucky to be playing a sport he loves? He should be glad to get paid anything to play football… yadda yadda yadda ha ha ha!
The sense of entitlement here is astounding, it’s all irrelevant anyway. Anybody actually catch those ND games, Quinn had crazy talent around him. Two NFL caliber receivers, Stovall and that Tall Froto looking guy, the stud running back Walker, and Fasaino the TE. Quinn=bust! This is simply a matter of how much money Cleveland wants to throw away!
There are several months between the draft and the start of training camp, and I am always mystified as to why the signing of first round picks never really starts until maybe two weeks before camp begins. Holding out if you are a rookie QB is the absolute worst.
That said, with the NFLPA being toothless, and teams being able to cut players at the drop of a hat, I can’t say I’m peeved at Quinn — if some sort of freak injury happens to him, he needs to get what he can as close to scale as he can. Frankly, if they’re quibbling over a million in guaranteed money and 2.5 mil in bonuses, in the large scheme of things, that isn’t a ton to fight over.
It’s just a ton of bad PR for a player who waxed well about his hometown team.
Cleveland should have picked Troy Smith. During the draft there rarely was a mention that Smith is also from Ohio and obviously had a much better college career–especially in big games. As a Michigan fan, I used to count the plays before Brady started dancing around in the backfield–scared as hell. If you bring pressure, he’ll fold up. Hard for me as a Michigan fan to heap praise on a QB that ripped my heart out the past few years, but hey man hey. Smith was the truth.
He’s Brady Quinn. Of course you can be peeved at him.
I don’t begrudge a veteran trying to get his money, but Brady is a rookie and has proven ZERO to me on the football field. He could destroy Stanford, Navy, and Purdue but just couldn’t seem to win a game that actually mattered. I don’t think he’s gonna win this negotiation either.
I’m all for players getting their money. Whether its a prick like Quinn or one of the guys I like, hold-out for that money, cause that team can cut you whenever they feel like it. IN regards to what Quinn is doing as far as holdouts go….he’s being stupid, but I’ll never get on a player for workign for more money. The less in the hands of the billionaire owners and more with the millionaire players, the better.
He’s not going to be good though. Can anybody say….David Carr?
Maybe he should ask the Dolphins for top 10 money.
Oh, wait. They didn’t pick him at #9 when they could have. Nor did anyone pick him at 10, 11, 12, 13…
He needs to realize that probably only Cleveland wanted him and they picked him when 20 other teams coulda had him and passed. I understand contracts aren’t guaranteed, but the way you earn it is to play and excel. It’d make a little bit of sense to try to max out the money if he were drafted somewhere he really didn’t want to go. So for all his talk about loving Cleveland etc, he not only comes off as a huge douchebag, but also a hypocrite.
Ap…dont do David Carr like that. Whatever issues Carr has had is becuase the Texans were Built HORRIBLY…the SECOND Tony Boselli went down in a heap…his career was doomed.
Brady Quinn is trying to parlay the adoration of the media into some extra $.
What pisses ME off…is that all this is going to fall in the lap of Romeo Crennel.
That said…he wont beat out Frye OR Anderson anyway.
Not a big Brady fan (Quinn, that is) but what hasn’t been pointed is that the Browns are being hypocritical in all of this. #3 pick OT Joe Thomas wanted a similar contract that Vince Young got last year as the #3 pick, but the Browns gave him less, using the argument that a QB is a more valuable position. Clearly Condon and Quinn know this and are calling the team on it. This situation points to some of the mixed messages and disfunction of a pretty sorry franchise as well as Quinn’s “over-inflated sense of self”.
Funny, when owners cut and trade players, they just say “its a business, deal with it.” So that’s kinda my reaction to Quinn’s contract talks. Its a business, he’s doing what he thinks he needs to do. No offense, but if there’s three and a half million dollars lying on the table in front of me, I’m doing my damnedest to get my hands on as much of it as possible. And I’m not really going to care what other people think. That’s real money for most of us.
A QB that can’t handle college pressure heading to the pros. That first training camp where he faces an NFL rush that’s been beating heads for two weeks would be fun to watch. The moment he realizes just how big and how fast these guys are might be priceless.
But I think you are right. I remember the Ga Tech blitz giving him hell early in the game. That blitz always wore down and dropped off late. But early in the game when they were flying around, Quinn couldn’t do anything.
And you know the first thing that’s going to happen in a real regular season game. The opposing defensive coordinator is going to through lots of blitz packages at the rookie QB to see if he can handle it.
I am a huge ND fan and was a big fan of Brady Quinn until…
This holdout is a HUGE disappointment. Everybody has their viewpoint, but I feel very strongly about players, who haven’t spent one second in the NFL or proven anything, holding out for money. Even better, my favorite is when, before they’ve even been drafted, try to dictate which team they will or won’t play for…
Players, athletes, are certainly entitled to being paid well. However, at least in Quinn’s case, get in the game and prove to everyone that he was worthy of a much higher pick. If he is as good as he thinks he is (and I believe he can be), start with humility, work your ass off, and make a statement with your performance on the field.
Well. I won’t sit here an moralize about dude holding out for as much as he can get. I’ve no love for the plantation owners in the NFL. BUT…..
I hate ND football, always have, always will.
1. I’m from LA. Go Trojans. Nothing makes me laugh as much as seeing the Trojans kicking Irish ass on Saturdays in the fall, unless it’s
2. Watching Brady Quinn looking like he was gonna cry at the draft as he plummets to the 22nd pick while LeMarcus Russell goes #1, unless it’s……
3. Watching Charlie Weiss, fat ungrateful charlatain, lose his malpractice suit against the physicians who probably saved his MORBIDLY OBESE ass from an even earlier death than he’s gonna have because he can’t keep his face from the spare ribs, unless, it’s…..
4. Watching USC regularly kick ND’s ass as cosmic payback for firing Ty Willingham before his initial contract was up, the first time in it’s history of doing so.
Yeah, I’m loving it!
Cosign everything you said Kevdog!!!
Orgin
HA!!!!!!! F-ND!
KevDog…
My sentiments exactly! LOL