Dawgbeat:07/30/2007 Opportunity slip, slip, slipping away.
Opportunity slip, slip, slipping away. Letter to Brady Quinn
by Eric Brown
07/30/2007
Get up Brady. Brady Quinn wake up. Your agent is quickly ruining what little relationship you were starting to build with Cleveland Brown fans. Your also ruining whatever chance you might have had to be the Browns starter on opening day. You see, if you haven't done your research, Romeo Crennel isn't all that fond of rookies, especially ones that aren't in camp on time. Ask Braylon Edwards or Travis Wilson. Time and time again you stated your desire to be a Cleveland Brown, if you're serious then tell your agent to get the contract done and be there for practice on Monday night.
Charlie Frye is quickly assuming control of the offense while Derek Anderson is providing the perfect opportunity for you to slide in and have a chance. It's been said that the competition will come down to two quarterbacks heading into the first pre-season game with a starter named before the all important third game. Don't think you can stroll in a week before the first game and expect to make so much of an impact that you will blow Crennel away and make you the starter. While possible, Crennel will just not let that happen. You'll be lucky to even get in the first prseason game if that scenario plays out.
You have now missed five practices and five days of rookie orientation. The other three quarterbacks are there working their tails off and learning the system while your agent has you sitting home haggling over money. I'm truly sorry that you didn't get drafted in the top five, but the fact is you didn't, and now it's time to move on and prove the 21 teams that passed on you wrong. It's not doing the Browns (the team you have said you desire to play for and turn the franchise around) or you any good to bicker over guarranteed money that you think you deserve. Get out there on the field and prove that you deserve the money. In the day and age of offensive guards getting six year thirty-six million dollar contracts for mediocre performance, I'm sure that if you are as talented and NFL ready as you say you are you'll make the money up in an extension or in free agency.
The fans are the real ones that suffer for your greed. Some fans disliked you because of your pretty boy image, your failure to succeed in big games, and some just don't like you because you went to Notre Dame. The majority of fans, though, were excited at what many believe will be the best draft the Cleveland Browns have ever had. So you see, the excited fans are disappointed at the future being disrupted, and the fans that don't like you are now being given ammunition that firms their opinion of you.
Brady, I personally think you are one heck of a football player, and exactly what the Cleveland Browns franchise needed. You will make more money in endorsements, and contracts than you or your future generations could ever need. Take your draft day freefall like a man and accept a fair contract from the Browns and go play some football and show all your critics that they were wrong about you. Each day that passes by without you in camp are opportunities slipping away.