Ranking every Cleveland Browns first round draft pick since 1999
By Chad Porto
27. QB Brady Quinn, 2007 – 22nd Overall
Honestly, I would rather have Johnny Manziel as a quarterback for one game than Brady Quinn, but Quinn lasted four years as a player in the NFL, so that puts him over Manziel. They’re two guys who are forever tied to one another, simply because their stories are identical.
They were both daft picks with “first-overall potential”. Quinn was apparently a prime prospect to go first overall to the then-located Oakland Raiders. Manziel was seen as someone who could go first overall to the Houston Texans at the time, as he was a big face in the Texas sports scene during his collegiate days.
The Texans were coming off a season with Matt Schaub at quarterback and with only Ryan Fitzpatrick and Case Keenum on the roster, Manziel made sense. They were both players that fell further than expected and were both quarterbacks the Browns traded up to the 22nd pick to draft.
They were then supplanted by a backup quarterback who had an improbable and meteoric rise. Quinn was supplanted by Derek Anderson, who went to the Pro Bowl, and Manziel by Brian Hoyer, the local hero.
Quinn, unlike Manziel, never showed any flashes. Quinn was just a jacked-up quarterback, with mediocre athleticism and no accuracy. His story is rather boring, as he was just a bad option and a bad player that excelled against soft collegiate competition.