Brady Quinn was the second quarterback up for the Broncos during practice Monday.
Even before draft weekend, Brady Quinn’s potential for success hinged upon doing something that a first-round quarterback has rarely done in recent decades: find success after being traded or otherwise cast aside a few years into his career.
What goes through your mind when you see the following names?
Steve Walsh, Cade McNown, Jim Druckenmiller, Heath Shuler, John Reaves, Marty Domres, Jay Cutler.
I know you’re not thinking of playoff wins and Pro Bowls (aside from Cutler’s one) with that group. (Although Reaves was a pretty good USFL QB for the Tampa Bay Bandits back in the day.) These are the seven other first-round quarterbacks since 1967 who, like Quinn, were traded from their original on-field teams* before making it to their fourth NFL seasons:
* (This, of course, is a crucial distinction; John Elway, Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and Kelly Stouffer dealt to the Broncos, Giants, Chargers and Seahawks, respectively, without taking a snap for the team that drafted them.)
So why might Quinn be different from the rest?
His playing time and bounces in and out of the Browns’ lineup the last three years compare to Walsh, Shuler, Domres, et. al. But Quinn’s results in one key statistic do not, as he and Cutler are the only first-round quarterbacks with a positive touchdown-to-interception ratio to be traded or released so early in their careers.
THE TRADED (career TD/INT at time of deal):
- Marty Domres: 5 TDs, 17 INTs
- John Reaves: 7 TDs, 14 INTs
- Steve Walsh: 5 TDs, 9 INTs
- Heath Shuler: 13 TDs, 19 INTs
- Jim Druckenmiller: 1 TD, 4 INTs
- Cade McNown: 16 TDs, 19 INTs
- Jay Cutler: 54 TDs, 37 INTs
- BRADY QUINN: 10 TDs, 9 INTs
Now consider the six first-round quarterbacks since the first AFL-NFL common draft who were simply cut by their first on-field teams:
THE RELEASED:
- Steve Pisarkiewicz: 3 TDs, 7 INTs
- Art Schlichter: 3 TDs, 11 INTs
- Todd Marinovich: 8 TDs, 9 INTs
- Tommy Maddox: 6 TDs, 9 INTs
- Ryan Leaf: 19 TDs, 33 INTs
- JaMarcus Russell: 18 TDs, 23 INTs
Even in the short-toss, checkdown-intensive, risk-minimizing passing philosophy of the last 15 years, the quarterbacks in these groups generally had negative touchdown-to-interception ratios: Shuler (minus-6), Druckenmiller (minus-3), McNown (minus-3), Leaf (minus-14), Russell (minus-5). Only Cutler and Quinn were different.
Last year, many pundits wrote and spoke of the notion that a quarterback of Cutler’s caliber and youth didn’t come on the market. To a lesser degree, this is also true for Quinn, who still eked out a positive ratio last year (8-to-7) even as his best, most polished targets ran out routes to other cities. His rating suffered because of his completion percentage; hindered by playing from behind and still needing to look deep for big plays, he only connected on 50.6 percent of his passes in 2008 and 53.1 last year.
WHEN QUINN SPOKE TO THE MEDIA MONDAY, he did so with relaxed confidence and a dry, but warm, sense of humor. He understands why the quarterback competition is the focal point of attention; as he explained:
“The quarterback is one of those positions everyone wants to talk about all the time. Selfishly, rightfully so. We’re a bunch of good guys. Why not?”
In the prism of that response, it came as no surprise that he shrugged at the Broncos’ decision to pick Tim Tebow in the first round.
“I’ve learned in my career, you really can’t look at things like that,” Quinn said. “I got brought in as a rookie, as a first-round guy. I had a guy who was already there and ended up going to a Pro Bowl (Derek Anderson). You never really know. This life’s crazy.”
But the offense in which he finds himself isn’t; it’s structurally the one he knows best; since the 2005 season at Notre Dame, each head coach under whom he has played carried ties to the Patriots’ run of three world titles between 2001-04. Quinn’s career has been marked by tumult around him: the departures of Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards, a coaching change after his second season, an injury that cut short his first starting stint, three quarterback coaches in the last three years. The offense is the closest thing to a constant he’s known.
“When you look at the NFL in general, the scheme is a scheme. Teams just call it something different,” Quinn said. “In the end, there’s some little different wrinkles here and there. For the most part, it’s just called something different. No matter what offense you really come from — at least in the NFL — a lot of the stuff is pretty similar.”
And that’s why the Browns might have done him a favor. By landing with the Broncos, he has less to unlearn and relearn than he would have in Cleveland, which is transitioning to a West Coast system. The scenery around him has changed, but he’s not starting from zero. Aside from Cutler, Quinn is, by the numbers, the best first-round quarterback available so early in his career. The history of first-round passers picked up at this stage of their careers isn’t stellar, but Quinn’s got a decent shot to be different.
Nice article. I like Quinn quite a bit, especially for this system. I was hoping we would’ve traded for Quinn last year rather than Orton, but that had more to do with the Browns 5th overall pick than anything else. Anyhow, keep up the good work and thanks for the Broncos news. And next time, when you’re talking about QBs, maybe talk about the stat that matters most. Wins and losses. Guessing Cutler and Quinn are pretty similar in that regard as well and Cutler’s Broncos and Bears teams were a whole lot better than Quinn’s Browns.
Getting Quinn was the flip side of my comment about Hillis in the FB article. If Quinn works out (obviously creating a different issue with Tebow here), then the fullback traded to get him is going to be far less than just an afterthought.
I’ll admit to not having watched much of Quinn’s play. I have seen a handful of Cleveland games where Quinn was playing and in those games he had some nice flashes, but also looked very bad at times. Maybe it was at least partially due to playing from behind and trying to make the big play to get “back in the game.”
Hopefully, with a few years of NFL experience under his belt, he’s ready to start being a steady contributor. Maybe the coaching and player changes around him, along with the QB shuffle, held him back.
It seems that if Quinn plays well in TC and pre-season, not to mention the 2010 season if he gets any starts, could be a good thing/bad thing. It’s easy to imagine a similar scenario to what Quinn experienced in Cleveland, but in this case, Quinn playing the Brady Anderson role and Tebow playing Quinn’s role.
Part of me says that would be a good problem to have, part of me isn’t so sure.
I don’t know Tned, if Quinn gets a chance to start I think he’ll at least duplicate those numbers put up by Orton last year. Thinking 3500 yards, 25 TDs, and 12 INTs range. For Quinn, those types of numbers would make him worth a 3rd, maybe even a 2nd round draft pick. That is assuming Tebow develops enough to unseat him at QB. It also would afford McD the time to really develop Tebow and not pressure him into a starting role in year two. I really can’t think of a way this would hurt Denver. Quinn performing is full of win.
In general, I agree. Quinn performing well would be a good thing for the Broncos. Where it could get dicey is if Tebow shows to be ready sooner than later, and Quinn plays much better than Orton, which will introduce a full blow QB controversy. Play the rookie (whether sometime this year or next) or play the hot hand in Quinn.
As I said, part of me would love to have that problem in Denver, but at the same time it could be a disruption to the team.
Disruption? Nah. If competition turns an accurate passer into a scattershot one, then perhaps he wasn’t mentally tough enough to flourish in the NFL to begin with. I’d rather learn about a guy’s mental fortitude in a summer competition than the fourth quarter of a divisional playoff in January.
Not so much the competition making a QB’s performance decrease, in that regard, I agree with you. Instead, what we have seen in other organizations is head coaches being more likely to give one QB the hook, if he enters a mini-slump, because of the next one in line. Then, when the replacement slips up, swap them back out.
Like I said, overall, having two QBs who look capable of excelling (right now that doesn’t apply to Quinn or Tebow) would be a great thing, as long as it doesn’t turn into a “bench the cool hand” and the overall team performance suffers from the lack of continuity.
Anyway, we are a long way from having to worry about that, because currently Orton is the starter, Quinn has to first prove he can take Orton’s job, before anybody had to even worry about Tebow pushing Quinn for the starting job.
What about Steve Young?
He was the First pick of the 1984 NFL Sup Draft of USFL. I know that doesn’t count, I guess. The guy was bad with Tampa, 3-16 in 19 games started and 11 TD to 21 INT’s
Yep, that USFL draft was a little different. The other first-round quarterback in the USFL supplemental draft was Ken Hobart from Idaho, the 10th overall pick of the Jets. Young is an intriguing parallel — nice get to mention that.
Good article and interesting way to look at Quinn’s potential here in Denver relative to other former first-round picks who’ve gone to other places.
I like Brady Quinn and by all accounts, he’s working hard. And for him, maybe its a blessing in disguise to have Tim Tebow here.
People always love the new quarterback in town over the incumbent. Quinn doesn’t have the pressure on him here that he did in Cleveland.
Ironic he was Cleveland’s Tim Tebow when he was there (albeit not w/ the amount of attention Tebow is getting), but it will be interesting to see how he performs as training camp nears.
Say this much, this is an interesting, fascinating quarterback battle Denver has on its hands.
BTW, good to have you back Mr. Mason. I missed your Broncos reporting!
Nice to have AM posting on the B R O N C O S again. I am a full believer that Quinn will benefit from this trade. McD will get the most out of him, where the so called QB coaches and OCs in the Browns org couldnt. Those guys didnt have the experience nor backround of actually being able to develop an NFL franchise QB. None of them.
I will stand on this: Quinn will play his best football here, and people will be calling the Browns idiots.
As for Orton, Brandstater and Tebow………however everything pans out……having four good QBs is NEVER a bad problem to have.
See: Matt Schaub
Assuming the physical abilities are in place, the difference in a QB is between the ears. Orton has voiced that the starting job is his, that it is going to have to be taken away from him, and that he doesn’t believe the others can do it.
Up until his injury last year, Orton was being described as a “hot quarterback.” It seems just about everyone has forgotten about Orton . . . except Orton. He said he is going to make the decision awfully tough on the Broncos. Belief is a powerful thing. If it is that strong within him, I wouldn’t bet against him.
Thanks for the warm welcomes back to the Broncos beat.
Matt Schaub is the perfect example, Warhorse. Have too many quarterbacks and you can flip one and almost always get higher value, since such a premium is placed on the position. Look at what San Diego got for Charlie Whitehurst, who hasn’t even thrown a regular-season pass. It’s a no-lose situation, and the odds favor the Broncos finding a long-term answer among their passers because they have multiple, viable possibilities.