Let’s Hope the Browns Have Learned Their Lesson with Young QB’s

By Jay Alan

DeShone Kizer is the Cleveland Browns’ most recent quarterback drafted in the early rounds, and with expectations of potentially being a franchise player in the future. Fans of the orange and brown have seen this scenario play out time after time, and with the same disappointing results. If anyone can put an end to that trend, it is the quarterback whisperer himself, Coach Hue Jackson.

Jackson is entering just his second year, and hopefully shouldn’t be in fear for his job, which in the past has caused head coaches to give in to the demands of fans and talk radio hosts, and play the new, young quarterback that was supposed to be on the bench learning. Even being drafted in the second round doesn’t make Kizer impervious to this ridiculous habit.

In 2005 Charlie Frye was a third round pick out of the University of Akron. Because Frye was a local boy, many fans took a liking to him and wanted him to play in his first year, which he did.

The result – Frye appeared in seven games, while starting five, and had a record of 2-3. He completed 59.8% of his passes for 1,002 yards, and had four touchdowns and five interceptions. Frye was not ready to play, not even close. Being rushed into service stunted his growth as a quarterback, and while a quarterback drafted in the third round is destined to most likely be a career back-up, Frye went 4-9 the next year, was out of Cleveland with two years of the draft, and out of football completely after five.

In 2007 Brady Quinn was drafted 22nd overall by the Browns. Quinn was projected as being an early first rounder, which led to the Browns trading up to get him, thinking they were getting a steal. Every other team doesn’t pass on a really good quarterback for no reason. That’s not to say Quinn couldn’t have been really good eventually, but once again the entire city of Cleveland, and most of northeast Ohio, wanted him to play almost immediately. Quinn had potential, but he also needed a lot of work, which is why he famously sat and watched most for the first round of the draft, wondering when he would be selected. The Browns deserve some credit with this one, they really tried…

The result – After the trade of Charlie Frye to Seattle, and an injury to Derek Anderson in his rookie year, Quinn made one appearance, going 3 for 8 for 45 yards, but was quickly back on the bench. In 2008, in typical Cleveland fashion, a 3-5 start by Anderson and the Browns meant that Quinn would become the new starter. He went 1-2 in three starts with two touchdowns and two interceptions before a broken finger cut his season short. In 2009, Quinn went 2-7 while going back and forth between being named starter, and then back-up in favor of Anderson, which is obviously not good for the development of any player, let alone a quarterback. Before the 2010 season Quinn was traded to the Denver Broncos where he sat behind Kyle Orton and then Tim Tebow, and never played a game in two years. After one season in Kansas City in 2012, Brady Quinn was out of football and has since had some success as an announcer.

While I could go on about Colt McCoy, Brandon Weeden, to a certain extent, and Johnny “Football” Manziel, the story is the same. The Browns are in such a rush to find their franchise quarterback, and the savior of the organization, they tend to rush players into service instead of letting them learn and waiting until they are completely ready. Hopefully with a new front office, and a head coach who is known for working with young quarterbacks and getting the most out of them, things can finally be different for the Browns.

The one thing that makes DeShone Kizer a little different is that the Browns will probably be drafting high again next season in a draft that is expected to have several really good NFL quarterbacks. The Browns will need to find out what they have in Kizer before they can know if they should use a high first round pick on a Sam Darnold from USC, or Josh Rosen from UCLA. Or they can keep Kizer on the bench and still draft one of these quarterbacks if they have the opportunity. When a franchise hasn’t had a decent quarterback since the early 1990’s, figuring out what to do with two really good quarterbacks would be a welcome problem.