Phil Savage must truly believe Brady Quinn is an elite quarterback. He sure paid like he believes that. Although all of Brownstown is rejoicing because the Browns got their elusive left tackle and a QB, the trade is pretty thought provoking. The first thought I had was: Is the package of Thomas and Quinn better than the package of Quinn, Blalock and next year's first? If you analyze it like that, the only way you can justify the trade is if Quinn is an elite quarterback. That means he has to turn out, for purposes of my definition, to be in the top quartile of NFL starting quarterbacks and capable of winning playoff games. Otherwise, Phil Savage was pantsed by Dallas. For better or worse, Phil and Brady are sittin' in a tree.... Nah. Not that. But, they're going to be inextricably connected in Browns lore.
I think a few things happened that made it all possible. First, the news about Adrian Peterson's collarbone injury had to give Savage pause. The Browns are not a franchise that can afford an injured marquee player. Second, Cam Cameron simply lost his mind. He and the Dolphins passed up a lot of good players to select a kick returner, Ted Ginn, Jr. Quinn was one of the guys they let pass. Then, Quinn began to fall. At some point, Savage had to think, "What if...."
I'm sure he wanted to see how far Quinn could fall, but he couldn't take too many risks. The Bears inexplicably stood pat. I guess they're thrilled with Rex Grossman, but a reasonable thinking person would have at least suspected that the Bears would make a move on Quinn. After all, Chicagoland is lousy with Golden Dome fans.
So, our boy Savage jumped. I'd be lying if I said I was unconcerned about giving up a first, but I'm hopeful that Savage knows real talent. Earlier in the day, I said Savage had big stones. The Rhino called him audacious. Regulars to this site know that Gen. Patton is one of my heroes. He was fond of quoting Frederick the Great who said, "L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace."
That means "Audacity, audacity, always audacity."So, our boy Savage jumped. I'd be lying if I said I was unconcerned about giving up a first, but I'm hopeful that Savage knows real talent. Earlier in the day, I said Savage had big stones. The Rhino called him audacious. Regulars to this site know that Gen. Patton is one of my heroes. He was fond of quoting Frederick the Great who said, "L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace."
It worked for the King of Prussia and for General Patton. Here's hoping it works for Phil and Romeo.
1 comment:
I guess the question I see is: is Quinn better than the QB's next year? The Browns are basically swapping next years first round pick for another first rounder this year (and I know they'll be picking higher than 22 next year, but they got a top 5 talent).
What they're really giving up is this years second round pick.
If Quinn and Thomas work out, Savage is a genius. If not, he set the franchise back another few years.
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