Brady Quinn should be aggravated and exasperated. He has to blame somebody, or everybody. After all, he once had been The Mighty Quinn, the Notre Dame quarterback who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated's college football issue, finished third and fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting, became an All-American and was a recipient of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award as the NCAA's No. 1 quarterback and the Maxwell Award as the best college player.
But Quinn didn't win a national championship as the starter with the Irish, and his career in the NFL didn't go as planned, either.
He wasn't the first quarterback selected in the 2007 draft. The Raiders chose JaMarcus Russell. The Browns, who were expected to select Quinn third overall, took an offensive tackle instead. In fact, the distressed expression on Quinn's face at Radio City Music Hall was telecast to millions when team after team passed on him. Finally, the Browns used an acquired first-round pick, No. 22, to pick Quinn.
Russell's contract was for $61 million, $32 million guaranteed. After holding out into camp, Quinn ended up signing a five-year deal with only $7.75 million guaranteed. He made just $700,000 in the last season of the contract, 2011, and is a free agent now.
As a rookie Quinn played in one game, the last. In his second season he started in the ninth game, at home, and had the Browns ahead, but the Broncos rallied to win. Quinn was injured in his third start and didn't play again until the 2009 season, when he started nine games and lost seven.
After that season, he was traded to the Broncos (for, yes, Peyton Hillis) — and hasn't played a down of football since. Five mostly wasted years. Quinn will be 28 in October. The Broncos don't want to bring him back; no other team is considering him as a potential starter, and only a few will make offers to him as a backup candidate. Quinn believed he would be the longtime starter in Cleveland. His coach and the general manager were fired at the end of 2008. After three starts in 2009, he was benched, and returned to start at midseason for seven more games. Then Mike Holm gren was hired as Browns president, and he decided that Quinn should be gone.
Oddly enough, Broncos coach Josh McDaniels decided privately that his one-year starter, Kyle Orton, should be gone — and traded for Quinn — who believed he would have a new start as a starter in Denver. Soon, though, McDaniels drafted Tim Tebow and later was persuaded by others to keep Orton. Eventually, in 2010, McDaniels was fired, and Orton was replaced for the final three games — not by Quinn, but by Tebow.
In 2011 the Broncos' new leadership tried to get rid of Orton, and Quinn believed he could beat out Tebow as the starter. Rather, when the Broncos couldn't close an agreement with the Dolphins, Orton abruptly returned as the starter. Quinn believed he would be the No. 2 quarterback, but was demoted to third (and inactive). And when the Broncos removed Orton in the fifth game, Tebow was inserted — and remained the starter the rest of the season. Upon Orton's release late in the season, Quinn was the backup again — and misinformed media reported he would be used in the postseason game against the Steelers.
Twice, Quinn believed he would have an opportunity to play, but he stood and waited ... in vain. In the 2010 and 2011 preseasons, Quinn had the least effective statistics, overall, among the Denver quarterbacks — 54-of-98 passes completed for 610 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. People wondered why Quinn was ignored. Not a strong or an accurate passer, didn't read defenses well, not enough experience, not good enough and more hype than hope. That sounds likes a critic's description of Tebow. Except, Quinn was not deemed a leader or a winner — too soft — with the Browns, and two different staffs with the Broncos didn't seriously regard him as a starter. The Broncos had to find out about Orton, then Tebow. Plus, Quinn would be a third expensive quarterback if he played 70 percent of the snaps.
Quinn has a right to be bitter at others and himself. But his comments about Tebow to Michael Silver for the March issue of GQ were not, as many claim, spiteful or negative. The observations were quite honest — especially when he was quoted as saying wistfully: "No, I didn't have any billboards. That would have been nice." Quinn tweeted public apologies and clarifications Tuesday, but he didn't need to. Not once while he was in Denver did Quinn cause trouble. He leaves as he arrived — a quiet, classy man. Perhaps in his next locale, Quinn won't be caught in a chaotic situation and will earn his own billboard and a chance to start again. Read more: Woody Paige: Brady Quinn's quotes in GQ hide how classy he is - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/paige/ci_20015969#ixzz3qHLQMbPN Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
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