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April 28, 2007

Brady becomes a Brown

Finally, the Brady Quinn soap opera ends.

The Cleveland Browns, who were projected to take the Notre Dame quarterback with the third overall pick in the draft but instead opted for the best offensive lineman on the board, Wisconsin tackle Joe Thomas, picked up Quinn anyway by swinging a trade with Dallas for the Cowboys' turn at No. 22.

Nice rescue for a collegiate star who had been a lifelong fan of the Browns, to now have a chance to play for them, when it appeared for awhile that no team had much interest in him -- at least not in the first round.

The price of this trade seems pretty steep, though. The Cowboys end up with Cleveland's second-round pick today, No. 36 overall, and the Browns' first-round pick in 2008. Would it be a stretch to think that perhaps the Browns could have waited until the second round and gotten him anyway? And unless the Browns make a dramatic turnaround, that 2008 first-round choice could be a high one.

So, a sweet deal for Dallas, it says here, and somethng of an ego-deflater for Quinn, who must have wondered why he chose to go to draft headquarters in New York and be exposed to all that camera-closeup embarrassment.

A Raiders executive told me last week that when Quinn came through Alameda for a visit, soon to be followed by LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell, their ultimate pick, the Notre Damer "had a pretty cocky attitude. If that was about confidence, I guess it's OK, but compared to Russell, who had a quieter confidence about him, his personality kind of surprised us a little bit."
-- Jim Jenkins

Posted by Bill Bradley at 1:57 PM | Comments |