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Cleveland Browns Training Camp 2008: Quarterback Preview

I have been putting off my training camp previews in hopes that the Browns would sign some of their draft picks. This way, I wouldn't have to include or not include certain players that will or will not be with the team come July 25. However, if I wait any longer, training camp will have started before I've cranked any of these out.

Trainingcampqb_medium

The Browns are entering the 2008-2009 campaign with three of the four quarterbacks that were on their roster last year during training camp. In the 2007-2008 season, scouts and media experts heralded Cleveland as having one of the worst quarterback situations in the league (since Brady Quinn was holding out for awhile). Now, we have one of the most luxurious quarterback situations in all of football: two starters, a coach-like backup, and a firm decision.

Why is the last line highlighted? In every season since the Browns have returned to the league, the quarterback position was up for grabs. That's not the case this year. Let's take a look at the three signal-callers on this year's squad:

1. DEREK ANDERSON - STARTING QUARTERBACK

7389_mediumDerek Anderson (#3)
Height:
6-6
Weight: 229
College: Oregon State
Experience: 3 years
Stats: 3787 yds, 29 TD

After losing the starting job competition in training camp last season to current Seahawk Charlie Frye, Anderson quickly assumed the role of the team's starter in 2007. In fact, he started all 15 games after the opener, and saw a good chunk of playing time in the opener. Anderson has clearly been battle tested. This isn't a Kelly Holcomb who had huge games once every six weeks: this is a guy who consistently got the ball to our playmakers.

Worst Attribute: Middle Zone Throws - It's inevitable that Anderson is going to throw interceptions. He likes to take chances and fire the ball to Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow in tight situations. To try and take that natural instinct away from him would quite frankly ruin him, much like Frye was ruined when he stopped being a mobile quarterback. What does need to change is Anderson's stubbornness in certain situations. Two games come to mind from last season: one against the Oakland Raiders in Week 3, and the other against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 16. Combined, those two games accounted for 31.5% of Anderson's picks on the season. After Week 3's mistakes of throwing the ball right into zone coverage over the middle, Anderson wasn't haunted again until what turned out to be our biggest game of the season against Cincinnati.

Best Attribute: Clock in Head - Last season, Anderson was sacked only 14 times. There were five games in which he wasn't even brought down a single time. That's unheard of for a Browns quarterback in today's day of age. As much as the offensive line deserves all of the props in the world for giving Anderson the "opportunity" to stand in the pocket, it also takes a quarterback with a good clock in his head to complete the package (we saw the opposite of that with Frye's Week 1 meltdown against the Steelers). Anderson's timing with Braylon Edwards was unparalleled to Frye's, and although his chemistry with Winslow still yielded for more desirable results, it was definitely adequate. With Donte Stallworth added to the mix to help stretch the field this year, Anderson's ability to get rid of the football at the right time can only improve: Stallworth has historically excelled at catching quick passes on crossing routes before turning them up the field for yards after the catch.

Various Concerns / Comments - The biggest question mark is whether or not Anderson is a one-hit wonder. Any way you look at it though, the Browns should be in a win-win situation. If Anderson fails after six weeks, bring in Quinn. If Anderson excels, you either have a huge trade coming up in a year or two, or you have your franchise quarterback for the next decade.

Job Security: A-
Player Quality: A-
Final Roster Odds: 100%


2. BRADY QUINN - BACKUP QUARTERBACK

8276_medium Brady Quinn (#10)
Height:
6-3
Weight: 235
College: Notre Dame
Experience: 1 year
Note: Pick No. 22 in '07

I called for him. You called for him. Heck, I'm sure even in the back of a lot of the minds in the Browns locker room, even the players were calling for him. After the disastrous first game last year against the Steelers, coupled with the mediocre performances from our other quarterbacks in training camp, everyone wanted to see just what the 22nd overall pick in the draft could deliver on gameday. Quinn's playing time never materialized due to Anderson's unforeseen year, but that doesn't mean the youngster is hanging his head.

How many times have we seen quarterbacks go down in this league? The Panthers seem screwed just about every season because Jake Delhomme goes down with an injury. Quinn is hungry to play, and that means he's going to be preparing his tail off. I'm sure he's hoping he won't have to wait as long as Aaron Rodgers had to wait in Green Bay (and Brett Favre may STILL be coming back), but Quinn knows he's going to start in this league sooner than later. Whether that be with the Browns or another team, it's hard to say. That all depends on how good Anderson is and the type of trade proposals that come our way next season or the year after.

Worst Attribute: Creation of a Distraction - This isn't a negative attribute of Quinn himself, but more so of what could develop. What we don't need is for fans to jump onto the Quinn bandwagon with the first mistake that Anderson makes. Also, Anderson was not a "great" quarterback in training camp last year. I actually expect Quinn to out-perform him somewhat in certain situations in camp, but I can only hope that it doesn't stir up discussions like "Quinn's ready now, why let him sit?" Anderson is our starting quarterback, period. Anything positive that we see from Quinn should only be interpreted as positive -- not confrontational.

Best Attribute: Taking Advantage - In the very limited time that Quinn was on the field against an opponent last season, he performed well. During two preseason games, he entered the games and wowed the fans. In his only appearance of the regular season last year -- Week 17 against the 49ers -- he was only 3-of-8 for 45 yards. However, Edwards and Winslow each had drops, and Quinn really should have had his first career touchdown pass if it weren't for that. Quinn is a gamer: if Anderson goes down for a quarter, I'm confident that our offense will not suffer a breakdown under Quinn.

Various Concerns / Comments - How long is too long to let him sit? If the Browns become the type of team that blow out opponents this year, should we give Quinn some playing time during the fourth quarter of games?

Player Quality: B+ (Incomplete)
Final Roster Odds: 100%


3. KEN DORSEY - VETERAN QUARTERBACK

6577_medium Ken Dorsey (#11)
Height:
6-4
Weight: 220
College: Miami (FL)
Experience: 5 years
Note: 13 career games

Dorsey is exactly who the Browns should be comfortable with as the third quarterback: he has a coach's mentality and reportedly knows the system very well. If he had the gifted skills of an Anderson or a Quinn, he'd be a starter in this league. Since he doesn't, he's accepted his role and is lending his brain to the other two quarterbacks. On a note for the future though, if and when the Browns part ways with either Quinn or Anderson, I would not be comfortable leaving Dorsey as the No. 2. That's why you might see the Browns draft another quarterback in a year or two.

Worst Attribute: Arm Strength - If we're down in a game and are without both Quinn and Anderson, we're going to have a difficult time coming back. Teams will sit back on Dorsey, giving him the short routes that he excels at.

Best Attribute: Managing an Offense - When presented with the right situation, Dorsey can do the little things to hold onto a lead and minimize the mistakes: he'll make the correct reads underneath and let the players try and get the job done after the catch.

Various Concerns / Comments - Dorsey has only played about two or three snaps during the regular season in two years with the Browns. If we get into a blowout situation, would it actually be more beneficial to play Dorsey?

Player Quality: C-
Final Roster Odds: 95%


QB Position Quality (Overall): A


The Browns should be scheduled to bring in a fourth quarterback soon, because it is usually unacceptable to overburn the arms of the three quarterbacks who will make the final roster. Anderson and Quinn will get the amount of reps they need, but with three quarterbacks, Dorsey will be unnecessarily overworked. Sometimes, you don't need an accurate quarterback for those third- and fourth-string receivers / backs: it's more about how they run their routes and stand out amongst the crowd.

As far as using Joshua Cribbs at the quarterback position, I'd give it a definitive "no". I'm not saying "no" for trick plays, I'm saying "no" for regular reps. The last thing we need is for one of the most important players on our team to suffer an arm injury practicing something he won't be needed for on gameday.

Finally, as far as who we'll bring in for our fourth quarterback, I have no idea. I'd recommend simply an undrafted free agent. If you have any thoughts you'd like to add to the Cleveland Browns quarterback situation heading into training camp, please feel free to elaborate to your heart's content!

NEXT UP (FRIDAY): Running Back

Poll
Do you agree that Derek Anderson should start the year as the Browns' quarterback, no questions asked?
Yes, Anderson deserves it
287 votes
No, Anderson should have to earn it by beating Quinn
128 votes
No, Quinn should be the starter, no questions asked
18 votes

433 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs  |  Comment 16 comments

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Comments

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thank you for giving me something to do

“Worst Attribute: Middle Zone Throws – It’s inevitable that Anderson is going to throw interceptions.”

This is exactly why if I am playing the Browns, I am playing cover 3 almost every down. I am rolling a safety up in the box, which will make me able to play a cover 1 man, and cover 3 without giving away which one it is. An 8th man in the box also makes it tougher for Jamal Lewis, and is there to cover Winslow. I probably will only put the safety on Winslow man-to-man if I have Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, or some other crazy fast safety on my team. (sidenote: can we PLEASE exploit the hell out of Roy Williams in coverage using K2?). My corners and the other safety are covering the deep thirds of the field, my 3 LBs along with the “in the box” safety are playing the short zones just waiting on DA to throw a pick, and my front 4 are trying like hell to get through the Browns’ beastly Oline.

“If the Browns become the type of team that blow out opponents this year, should we give Quinn some playing time during the fourth quarter of games?”

Absolutely. If we want to keep him, we want to make sure he is going to be at least around as good of a QB as Anderson. If we want to trade him, other teams want to see that he has proven himself in real games. If he fails miserably, we have an easy decision to make. The only way we shouldn’t play him is if we know we are going to trade him and don’t want to risk him dropping his own trade stock. I think we should just make sure we have the right QB and not get that greedy.

“If we get into a blowout situation, would it actually be more beneficial to play Dorsey?”

No. I love seeing Dorsey with a headset on, I do not want to see him with a football rather than a clipboard. Ever. Just give him a coaching contract right now.

“As far as using Joshua Cribbs at the quarterback position, I’d give it a definitive “no”.”

I could not agree more.

by rufio on Jul 2, 2008 11:46 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Disagree

I am pretty sure that there were be a package the Browns use on offense where Cribbs plays qb. I wouldn’t want anything more than that. I was just thinking we could easily free up a roster spot if we considered him as an emergency qb. Seriously, how often does a team use 3 qbs in one game. I would love to give Dorsey a coaching contract but 100% agree it would be a disaster if he ever saw the field. This is the whole point of my arguement.

by bellar on Jul 3, 2008 1:25 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Where did that come from?

Teams often have only 2 QBs active on Sunday, because in the event of both of them getting injured, the 3rd one can be activated without any penalty. This third QB should be Dorsey all the time, and if it hasn’t been that way in the past, I don’t know why we aren’t activating other guys (Harrison).

So, let’s say Anderson and Quinn are “active”, Dorsey is “inactive” and Cribbs is “active” but playing ST/WR. Anderson and Quinn both tear ACLs in the same game. In this case, we can activate Dorsey, have him play some QB, AND shift Cribbs over to QB from time to time, no problem. For this reason, Dorsey should not be active at the start of any Browns game. We (and pretty much everyone else ever) agree(s). Cribbs should have some sort of package/trick play where he lines up at QB anyway, and in the event of both Quinn and Anderson getting hurt, we could go to Dorsey some of the time, and that “Cribbs package” for much more than normal.

I fail to see where you disagree with anything I said.

If we simply made Dorsey a coach immediately (something that I don’t think he would do because he would make a lot less money) it would effectively open another roster spot for someone else to be inactive on gameday. Is this what you are advocating?

by rufio on Jul 3, 2008 4:08 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Cribbs

I still think if Cribbs has a package in our offense that we could potential look into having Dorsey be inactive in certain games if needed. I don’t think it will happen but it could be considered. I would love if they brought in a fourth qb who has athletic upside and could be used somewhere else. These kind of guys are out there but the end result will definately be (95%) we keep Dorsey and have no 3rd qb. I still want ANYBODY who can kickoff further than Phil.

by bellar on Jul 2, 2008 11:56 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

I believe in quite a few of our games last season, Dorsey was inactive on gameday due to the league rule that he could play if Anderson / Quinn were both injured.

Regarding Dawson on kickoffs: I hate it when teams carry two kickers. It’s much more of a waste than carrying a third quarterback, just to have someone who can kick the ball a yard or two deeper consistently. Now, if you’re talking about replacing Dawson completely, then we have a problem. No one messes with Phil Dawg ;)

Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.

by ChrisPokorny on Jul 3, 2008 12:31 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Also, here’s another thing: you always carry “X” amount of players on your team that are inactive on gameday (I think it’s six). Usually, about four-five of those players are inactive every week, while one or two players rotate out of the inactive / active list (see Jerome Harrison).

Out of those four-five players that don’t usually play, it shouldn’t matter what position they are: they won’t play, unless they are a quarterback (via the injury rule). Therefore, it’d actually seem counter-productive not to keep the option available.

I understand the passion you’re expressing for multi-dimensional players: I’ve always been intrigued by an Antwan Randle-El type of player. However, I’ll still take the third option from the practice list and let the Randle-El’s and Cribbs’ worry about the areas of the game they are most effective at contributing already.

Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.

by ChrisPokorny on Jul 3, 2008 1:00 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I also want to add that because the quarterback position is virtually a lock already in terms of who will fill what roles, this turned out to be more of a “season preview” of the quarterback position than a “training camp preview”. With the other positions I write up, it should be easier to find more training camp related things to write about:

i.e. Receivers, there’s a ton to discuss (Wilson vs. Kasper + Arrival of Stallworth)
i.e. Tight ends, there’s the Rucker/Dinkins situation
i.e. Offensive line, there’s finding a backup tackle / starting right guard

...and so forth. It just so happened to be that QB was as set as you could get (another reason I was hoping that we’d have a fourth QB signed by now—I wanted to offer some insight on a guy we don’t already know about, a.k.a an UDFA).

Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.

by ChrisPokorny on Jul 3, 2008 12:53 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

From Wikipedia:

On February 5, 2008, Zabransky signed a two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, he was waived on July 2.

I always got a kick out of watching Zabransky when I caught a few of his Boise St. games on television. I hadn’t known he had been released by the Steelers and was on the market…he could certainly make for an interesting tryout (not to make the roster, but just to get a feeler on him).

Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.

by ChrisPokorny on Jul 3, 2008 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

4th qb

I agree the qb situation is set. I didn’t realize the whole inactive thing, very interesting. My thoughts on bringing in a 4th multidimensional qb just to spell the other two is we could look at him as an athlete and maybe find a similar Cribbs. JC is used to his fullest potential because he returns every kick so far that he is exhausted and therefore we don’t or can’t use him on offense as well. I am just board and trying to create a little conversation. I realize no team does this but on a roster with 53 guys there isn’t a players who can consistently kick the ball deep. Phil is as solid as they come with the field goals though.

by bellar on Jul 3, 2008 10:11 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Admittedly, I don’t actually remember viewing Dawson’s kickoffs, I guess I don’t pay attention to that sort of thing while watching a game. I do know that lots of fans think we need someone to kick off further.

However, we should all remember that kickoffs aren’t all about where the ball lands/is caught, they are about where the ball ends up. Hypothetically, if we had a kicker who could kick really really high but his kicks only made it to the 15 yard line, it would be phenomenal because the other team would have to take a fair catch at the 15 every time. If he is giving our guys time to get down there and make the tackle, I really don’t care if they are receiving the ball 5 yards deep or 3 yards out of the endzone.

I don’t have the stat for Dawson’s net kickoff average, but would love some further analysis.

by rufio on Jul 3, 2008 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Quinn Starting!!

The only way that Quinn should start is if he completely out plays DA in training camp. If that doesnt happen than DA is the started!

by PhillyDawg on Jul 3, 2008 1:32 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

71%

According to the survey most (71%) think Anderson deserves the job regardless. I am a fan of competition but not controversy…

by bellar on Jul 3, 2008 1:49 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Rufio

I agree with everything in your last post. I guess I must have misinterpretted something you had said. My problem is that NOBODY thinks Dorsey is more than a coach or emergency stand in. I WISH we could have him as more of an assistant so we could start grooming our future backup for whatever/whenever the Quinn/Anderson situation concludes.

by bellar on Jul 3, 2008 6:11 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Coaches salaries don’t compare w/ those of players. Dorsey will not, and should not, accept a coaching position at this point in his career.

by kwoog on Jul 4, 2008 12:41 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I hope that when we get rid of one of the QBs, that if the other goes down, the combo of Dorsey/Cribbs/Some new guy is good enough to rely on. At least for a little bit. Savage is terrified of getting rid of one, only to have the other go down due to injury.

Hopefully we will be able to find a suitable backup after one of Quinn/Anderson leaves. It really won’t matter until then, but as soon as we make that move, we will need somebody, you are right. For now, I think we could sign a relatively young QB and put him on the practice squad, so we could groom him now to be the backup when we get rid of one QB. Not having that guy is a tremendous problem to have.

kwoog is right, and Dorsey won’t sign up to be a coach until he thinks he no longer has a place as a backup in the NFL. Until then, he is going to be making more money than we would offer him as a coach.

by rufio on Jul 6, 2008 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

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