Speaking of fortune-telling, I was thinking today about the drafting of one Brady Quinn. If you remember, the Cleveland Browns chased him down late in the first round of the 2007 draft, giving up a first- and second-round pick for him. The reasoning was, “We’ll have to draft a quarterback next year anyway, so let’s just give someone that first-round pick now and get our guy.”
Of course, they didn’t have to draft a quarterback the following year because Derek Anderson won 10 games for them, posting a QB rating of 82.5. When Anderson slipped last year, the Browns went to their QB-in-waiting, Quinn, who promptly showed he wasn’t even worth one third-round pick. Quinn is now so bad he’s been benched for a guy whose season-long QB rating is 30.9.
Now I wonder: How big a bust is Brady Quinn? Ryan Leaf only cost the Chargers a first-round pick; Quinn cost the Browns a first- and second-round pick. Leaf may still be the bigger bust (you may have forgotten his 1-of-15, 4 yards, 2 INT performance against the Chiefs in 1998), but Quinn is right behind him. Good thing he’s been working on his physique: He’s gonna need some modeling gigs when he’s out of football in two years.
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 2:30 PM
That is what the media gets for hyping up an athlete. Some say the same thing about Tebow when he goes pro. He is good in college, but do you really have to worship him? The hype goes to the athlete’s head and everybody else’s. And then when he disappoints, you see what kind of athlete he is.
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 3:05 PM
I think you’re way off base.
Quinn still has a shot. He’s started a grand total of six NFL games. And, Derek Anderson’s “season long” QB rating of 30.9 is from ONE HALF OF FOOTBALL.
Look, at this point, Brady Quinn looks like he will be a bust. But he is no where close to what Ryan Leaf was. First, Quinn was selected 22nd overall. Leaf: 2nd overall.
Leaf was supposed to be a legitimate NFL superstar. Quinn was supposed to be good, but he came from a week draft class and most people, by the time he was drafted, didn’t expect him to be much more than a solid NFL starter.
Leaf was a crybaby, good-for-nothing diva. Mentally, he never had what it took to be an NFL quarterback, and that is why he was driven out of the league so quickly.
Quinn still has time. The reason he was benched was due to an idiot coach, Eric Mangini, who knows his job may soon be on the line, only three games into his career with the Browns.
I’ll name some bigger busts at the quarterback position than Quinn: Tim Couch, David Carr, Kyle Boller, Matt Leinart, Vince Young, Jamarcus Russell, Rex Grossman, and on and on. And that is only the quarterback position. I haven’t even gotten into the Charles Rogers and the Gerard Warrens…
To even compare Quinn to Leaf is one of the most ridiculous notions I have ever heard. Quinn will still be in football in two years. Mentally, he won’t drive himself away from the game like Leaf did. Quinn, at the worst, will at least be a solid backup in the NFL.
I am not a Cleveland Browns fan, I am not a Brady Quinn fan, but I clearly know more about football than you. Ryan Leaf was one of the all-time biggest jokes in professional football, and it’s not fair for anyone to put Brady Quinn in the same sentence as him.
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Good post WINF… Quinn isn’t even the biggest bust in his own draft class, at his own position no less.
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 4:31 PM
Called it before he even got into the league. Once again, the “experts” hyping up a Notre Dame quarterback who showed in college he couldn’t do shyt when it came to fast defenses. I figured he wouldn’t translate to the NFL and so far he has not proven me wrong. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 5:02 PM
Huh. Adam Schefter just said it’s a “major setback” for the whole Browns franchise because of what it cost them to get him. Yeah, one of ESPN’s top NFL analysts (and one of only 3-4 on ESPN worth listening to) and I are completely uninformed.
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 5:04 PM
I knew he’d tank in the NFL. But I still wanna blow him. Badly.
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 5:54 PM
Look Cyd, there is no way you can even begin to compare Brady Quinn to Ryan Leaf. Schefter would never do that.
Quinn may very well be a bust, but nowhere near the greatest of all-time. Your argument shows you know barely anything about Ryan Leaf and that you don’t have a deep insight into the NFL.
Bigger bust? Akili Smith or Brady Quinn? Jamarcus Russell (who is doing much worse than Quinn but still has a shot as well) or Brady Quinn?
Yes, drafting Quinn was likely a setback for the Browns. But with the way that team is playing, one or two draft picks would not have set them back. Their biggest setback was firing Romeo Crennel to have Eric Mangini take his place.
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Do you red-neck losers know how to read? Blow this
Quinn accepted Willingham’s scholarship and attended the University of Notre Dame, where he shattered 36 Fighting Irish records during his four seasons with the team. There were ten career records, twelve single-season records, four single-game records and ten miscellaneous records broken by Brady throughout those four years, including the record for career pass attempts with 1,602, completions with 929, yards-per-game with 239.6, touchdown passes with 95, and the Irish’s lowest interception percentage with 2.43. Quinn also won 29 games as a starter at Notre Dame, which is tied with Ron Powlus and Tom Clements for the most in school history. On the downside, his 17 losses are the most in school history, one more than Powlus’ 16 losses, and are markedly more than Clements’ 5 losses. Quinn also ranks in the top ten in NCAA Division I history in career pass attempts (ranked seventh), passing yards (ranked tenth) and touchdown passes (ranked ninth).[1]
For his college career, Quinn also had 32 interceptions in three years. Comparing Quinn to other Notre Dame top-10 quarterbacks, that is in line with Steve Beuerlein (44 in four years), Terry Hanratty (34 in three years) and Joe Theismann (35 in three years). It contrasts with other top Notre Dame quarterbacks, such as Powlus (27 in four years), Rick Mirer (23 in four years), Jarious Jackson (21 in four years) and Joe Montana (25 in three years).[3]
In 2005, under the supervision of Notre Dame’s new head coach Charlie Weis, formerly of the New England Patriots, Brady blossomed as a starting quarterback. He averaged 110 more passing yards per game than he had as a sophomore while nearly doubling his number of touchdown passes, throwing 32 in 2005 compared to 17 in 2004.[1] Quinn placed fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Reggie Bush, Vince Young and Matt Leinart.[4] Quinn was named to the 2005 AP All-America Team as a third-team quarterback[5] and the 2006 SI.com All-American Team as a second-team quarterback.[6] Quinn also received the Sammy Baugh Trophy as the nation’s top passer of the 2005 season.[7]
Prior to the start of the 2006 college football season, Brady Quinn was featured in a regional cover on the 2006-08-22 issue of Sports Illustrated’s 2006 College Football Preview issue along with then-teammates Tom Zbikowski and Travis Thomas with the caption “Notre Dame: The Battle For No. 1.”[8] Quinn was expected to lead his Fighting Irish squad as one of the best college football quarterbacks in the country. However, the team’s #2 pre-season ranking[9] was put to the test in games against the Michigan Wolverines on 2006-09-16 in which the Irish lost 47-21[10] and USC Trojans on November 25, 2006 in which the Irish lost 24-44.[11] Arguably, these were the team’s two biggest games of the season,[citation needed] and proved to be the team’s only regular-season losses.[12]
However, despite the somewhat disappointing season for the Fighting Irish in which the team finished ranked #11,[13] Quinn posted rather impressive numbers, finishing the season with 3,426 yards on 289 completions out of 467 attempts for a completion percentage of 61.9% and 7.34 yards-per-attempt. He threw 37 touchdowns to only 7 interceptions, and was sacked 31 times. Brady finished the regular season with a passing efficiency rating of 146.65,[14] which ranked him 18th in the country.[15]
Quinn and the Fighting Irish were invited to the 2007 Sugar Bowl on January 3, 2007, where the team would face off against the LSU Tigers. However, Quinn would prove to be outmatched against the strong LSU defense, which held him to only 148 passing yards. Quinn threw only two touchdown passes, both in the first half, and the Tigers held Notre Dame scoreless through the second half of the game to defeat the Fighting Irish 41-14.[16]
Following the 2006 season, Quinn won several awards, including the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award[17] for the best college quarterback in the nation and the Maxwell Award[18] for the best college football player. Brady finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting behind Troy Smith and Darren McFadden.[19] He was also named the Cingular All-America Player of the Year[20] and was named to the 2006 AP All-America Team as a second-team quarterback.
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on Sep 30th, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Umm…ok…so all of those stats to say what in relation to his bust status (thus far) of an NFL player?
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 6:42 PM
He’s played a whopping 6 games. Way too early to determine whether he is a “bust” or not. He was not a Top 10 pick so it’s off-base to suggest the whole Browns’ franchise pinned their hopes on him. All this speculation is premature.
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 7:10 PM
I would say that I can see Jim’s point…to an extent. I mean 3 games into the NFL season and people (including myself) are ready to pull down Mark Sanchez’ jock and jerk him off. However, in college football Sanchez played great games against great teams. When did Quinn ever do that in his college football career? So yeah…I can see why people are saying he’s overrated and/or bust, and why others are saying wait a bit? Well how long do we wait? Til the end of the this season? Next season? I already have my answer. He wasn’t all that in college so why would anyone think he’d be all that in the NFL?
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 9:16 PM
This is nothing more than Cyd trying to get under Jim’s skin. It’s way too early to judge and Cyd knows it.
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 9:19 PM
Brady who?
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 9:20 PM
^^^ This
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 9:26 PM
it’s just Cyd being Cyd
on Sep 30th, 2009 at 10:04 PM
Well Cyd knows jack
on Oct 1st, 2009 at 12:56 AM
Lol. Yeah, I don’t know anything about the NFL. Again, I just don’t understand how “I disagree with you” becomes “You don’t know anything about the sport you’re talking about.” It happens all the time on the Web site. Does it happen on others? I just don’t see it as much. Oh well. I guess I better go read my “NFL For Dummies” book again…
on Oct 1st, 2009 at 8:24 AM
He’s been disappointing I suppose but to give him the bust label seems a bit premature in that he’s only played 6 games and a bit unfair in that he has absolutely nothing to work with in terms of WRs, RBs and offensive line. Factor in that they have one of the worst coaches in the league and you have the ultimate recipe for disaster. I’d have to see him playing with some modicum of talent around him before saying he’s a bust.
on Oct 1st, 2009 at 8:33 AM
Cyd, what don’t you understand about the expectations for an overall 1st-3rd pick being significantly higher than the overall 22nd pick in the draft?
By definition, no matter how bad Quinn ends up being he cannot be a bigger bust than Ryan Leaf, Vince Young, or any other top three overall pick who’s been a bust in the NFL.
I’m sure your response will be, “yeah but Quinn cost the Browns a 1st and 2nd round pick”. True, but the 1st round pick the Cowboys got for Quinn in the following year’s (2008) draft ended up being the 22nd overall. And the 2nd round pick in the trade was 36th overall in 2007.
Go check the draft pick value chart almost all NFL GMs consult when trading draft picks. You’ll see that an overall 1st-3rd pick is a much higher value (approx twice as much value) than the overall 22nd and 36th picks combined.
on Oct 1st, 2009 at 9:22 AM
I think a lot of this Quinn “bust” talk causes a stir because too many gays think he is hot. So they will defend him regardless of performance. I personally don’t care for him and hope he fails.
1- because I hate the Browns!
2- because I still believe he is guilty of shouting a gay slur while drunk in public.
Cyd has done his job as a journalist here, he wrote a story that created passionate responses on both sides.
on Oct 1st, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Oh and once his short football career is over he can make a run for the Triple Crown!
on Oct 1st, 2009 at 2:42 PM
Quote from Cyd’s response:
” . . . Lol. Yeah, I don’t know anything about the NFL. Again, I just don’t understand how “I disagree with you” becomes “You don’t know anything about the sport you’re talking about.” It happens all the time on the Web site. . . . ”
Cyd, if you really don’t understand, go read Jim’s blogroll posts and articles to see if he gets the same types of responses you do. There’s a reason he doesn’t.
His material is always well thought out and makes sense. You throw some off the wall ideas out there. Now if you’re doing that simply to be controversial and create arguments, mission accomplished.
But from your quote above, you seem genuinely puzzled as to the negative feedback you receive. You’re simply lost if you believe Quinn as a #22 overall pick even belongs in the conversation with Ryan Leaf (#2 overall) and Vince Young (#3 overall) as top busts.
on Oct 1st, 2009 at 5:48 PM
I agree with Jeff. Quinn sucks. And we all know that college numbers don’t mean crap when it comes to the NFL JMousso, as Florida’s Tim Tebooty will showcase very soon. It also doesn’t mean anything in college when you can’t when the big games. Did he ever win a bowl game? I don’t remember…
I think adding to the bust factor is that unlike Russell, Young, and the other tricks folks have trotted out, Brady Quinn got magazine covers, commercials, powerade sponsorship, and his own flavor of ice cream. The media put him on a pedestal like he was Touchdown Jesus or something. It makes you want to hate him. I know it’s wrong because when I met him, he was really nice and very cute, but he’s def overrated and his media presence is annoying.
And Cyd is the best journalist ever.
on Oct 2nd, 2009 at 8:38 AM
^^^^^ This
on Oct 4th, 2009 at 6:11 AM
LISTEN UP PEOPLE…
RON: You didn’t call sh!t. You dont know anything more than my grandmammy regarding Quinn’s future.
WELL INFORMED: You get it. Now teach it to these others.
Quinn is currently making the tough transition from college QB to NFL QB. 3 games people. 3 games. People who wrap up someone’s career so early, based on THREE starts, are out of their minds and deserve NO credibility.
You people ought to listen to JMOUSSO. Look at those statistics good and hard. He was a supreme college quarterback and is a hard-worker. He will find his place in the NFL soon, and will either become a solid backup… or he will make you know-it-alls eat sh!t.
Quinn is a solid and strong quarterback who is struggling to adapt to the bigs. MOST players go through this… including some of the best players in the league.
So stop acting like you are all fortune tellers, and quit patting yourselves on the back because you haven’t been proven to be right on anything at this point.
on Oct 4th, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Browns should trade Quinn to the Raiders. I’m sure Al Davis would do it.
on Oct 4th, 2009 at 6:29 PM
dgw: You have your opinion and I have mine. What “big” game did he win playing for Notre Dame? I stand by what I said and your little rant does nothing to change that.
on Oct 5th, 2009 at 5:05 PM
http://withleather.uproxx.com/2009/10/brady-quinn-rap-concert-awkward
Poor Brady. He just can’t catch a break these days. Tee hee hee!!
on Oct 8th, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Any of you who believe Brady Quinn deserves to be classified as a bust with only 6 starts to show for himself, I’m just thankful none of you have a GM job in the National Football League. Otherwise Joe Flacco or Peyton Manning would have been out of the league after their first six games.
Let’s be clear here. I’m of the opinion that the only true way to judge a quarterback prospect such as Quinn is by his starts and the more starts you have on tape, the better you can judge him.
However many games Brady Quinn has played outside those six starts, I find it difficult to judge him on any stats he has put up in games he has come into “cold” as a backup.
Six starts isn’t enough. With that said, I do consider you more of an authority that some of your critics here do. I also think you raise a good point in referencing how much the Browns gave up to get Quinn. If Eli Manning had fallen on his face, one could make a very similar statement about him, given how much the Giants gave up to get him.
Not that I want to imply a quarterback never get judged on his work as a backup. But I think it is easier to judge guys like Brad Johnson, Gus Frerotte, Brian Griese or Jeff Garcia based on their work as a backup than it is a guy like Brady Quinn. Primarily because those other three were previously starters. Quinn really hasn’t had a full-time opportunity to start and unless he does so long term, it seems awfully hard to qualify him as a bust. He needs a few more starts either in Cleveland or some other city before anybody goes that far.