How to Handle the Young Ones

The recent Friday post by our fearless blog leader, IceCold, got me thinking about one of the toughest decisions for a sports franchise. How to handle the kids, the Joba Chamberlains, the Kevin Durants, and of course, the Brady Quinns.

Now the Kevin Durants are relatively easy, and we've been over the Joba Chamberlains. However, one of the rather large pre-season stories thus far in the NFL is the Brady Quinn situation in Cleveland. Should they start him? Should they sit him? What is the best way for a team to handle the individual that for all intensive purposes is the future face of the franchise. Quarterback is hands down the most important position in sports. There are basically three ways to handle a situation involving a franchises' future leader. The rush job, the mid-season, and the year long wait. Each situation has had success stories(Ben Roelesberger, Vince Young, Phillip Rivers), each situation has failures (David Carr, Eli?(kidding, kinda), Joey Harrington).

Obviously each situation is 100% specific to the player and situation. Basically, I am a large fan of the mid-season take over for the rookie QB. I think that this plan allows the Quarterback to come in and give a boost to a mediocre team that may or may not be under performing. It also allows the O-Line to feel comfortable playing together and the chances of a Quarterback getting consistently destroyed from his blindside(see David Carr) are reduced to a comfortable level. I believe that a year isnt neccesary and the beginning of the year is just too soon(and risky). Now as I said before, there are exceptions to this rule where this is not the best policy, the most recent example in San Diego, with Drew Brees clearly leading a team to the playoffs as its' leader. Obviously, in these situations, you don't replace the quarterback, no matter the situation. With few exceptions, I fully believe that the mid-season insertion is easily the best method.

Now the Brady Quinn situation is, of course, its' own unique problems for the coaching staff and front office. There isn't anyone else on the roster that is a viable NFL starter. Unlike the Broncos last year and to a lesser extent(at the time of the switch) the Titans, no one expects the Cleveland Browns to be relevant this year. It just ain't happening. Also a factor, the fact that Young Quinn has been in camp for only a few weeks and is currently playing catch up with the playbook and team. The last two points clearly would lead someone to believe that starting Brady would be a devastating mistake the likes of which hasn't been seen since David Carr got sacked about 150 times in 3 years. The Browns' current plans were made public recently when the GM came out and said, "Brady Quinn will not be the starting Quarterback for the Cleveland Browns" over the weekend. There is no way that starting him is the right thing to do, probably at any point this season.

Here is the thing though, the argument for starting him, the reason the fans every Cleveland game will be chanting "Brady" continuously for four quarters. Brady Quinn is hands down the best quarterback on the roster right now. He looked extremely comfortable and almost dominant against the Denver Broncos first team defense(Champ Bailey, John Lynch, DJ Williams). Two drives, 10 points. Not much better than that for a rook, even in the PreSeason. He has had a quarter of the practice reps with the 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd team offense and he is, hands down so far, the best Quarterback on the Brown roster.

Should they start him? HELL NO. Are you serious? With a rookie left tackle? Even a good rookie will still make mistakes. No reason to risk it. The team isn't going anywhere, that much, we are sure of. And the short term reward (8 wins MAX) certainly is not near the short term risk involving Brady's confidence and health. He shouldn't be starting for this team but I'm 80% sure that we will be seeing him come week 8.