Is Brady Quinn The Next Aaron Rodgers?

The Browns awarded Anderson with a three-year contract valued at $20 million—the same amount of money the team signed Quinn for.

This begs the question: Why would any team pay two quarterbacks a starter’s salary?

The answer is because the Browns wanted to stick with Anderson, who proved he could be a valuable quarterback in this league.

But they also didn’t want to give up on Quinn, whom they sacrificed so much—perhaps too much—for.

The Browns entered their offseason training programs knowing that Anderson would be their starting quarterback for the 2008 season unless something absolutely terrible happened to him. Quinn saw a lot of time during the preseason, but ultimately didn’t impress coaches enough to award him the starting job.

Fast-forward to Week Five of the season—the Browns’ bye week. The Browns were sitting at 1-3 and fans wanted Anderson benched in favor of Quinn. Anderson hadn’t passed for more than 166 yards in a game all season and threw just three touchdowns with six interceptions—not exactly good fantasy numbers.

However, Crennel and his staff stuck with Anderson, feeling that their best football was ahead of them.

Quinn took extra snaps in practice all week and even practiced with the first team. He was ready to step in if Anderson was pulled during the team’s upcoming Monday night matchup with the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

And wouldn’t you know it? Anderson came out firing.

He didn’t look like the same No. 3 that had played in the team’s first four games. If I had bet, I would have said the team replaced Anderson with someone who looked just like him, but actually completed passes and made good decisions with the football.

After Anderson’s 22-yard touchdown pass to backup tight end Darnell Dinkins, the camera panned the Browns' sideline.

And there was Quinn, looking as though he’d just been shot in the face.

He was excited to be winning, of course. Anyone would be. But Anderson’s stellar game meant that Quinn would be holding a clipboard for at least another week.

So where does Aaron Rodgers fit into all this?

The Green Bay Packers drafted former California quarterback Aaron Rodgers with the 24th selection of the 2005 NFL Draft.

What happened could be called nothing but… well, complete misery.

Rodgers was expected to take the reins from long-time Packers starting quarterback Brett Favre. Most people figured he had only one more good year left in him.

Favre played the 2005 season with Rodgers behind him. He then contemplated retirement, but came back for the 2006 season. It wasn’t much of a shock.

Once again, Rodgers was behind Favre on the depth chart, seeing game action here and there when Favre would be injured for a series or two.

Following the season, Favre contemplated retirement again. But he had one of the best years of his career in 2007, breaking just about every passing record there was to break.

Rodgers saw some game action, but again, it wasn’t enough to satisfy him—or the fact that the Packers had used a first-round draft pick on him.

When Favre officially announced his retirement following the 2007 season, the Packers named Rodgers their starting quarterback.

What ensued could have only been described as a soap opera, which eventually culminated in the Packers trading Favre to the New York Jets for draft picks.

And Rodgers remained the Packers’ starting quarterback.

Though the Packers are struggling a bit this year, Rodgers has been an efficient and effective quarterback.

Could the same thing happen to Quinn?

He’s been holding a clipboard for the first season-and-a-half as a professional football player, just like Rodgers. Only this time, Quinn doesn’t have a surefire Hall of Famer in front of him on the depth chart. Quinn has Anderson in front of him who is prone to mistakes—and prone to causing Browns fans to chant Quinn’s name when Anderson throws an interception.

So could Quinn be the next Rodgers? Could he sit the bench for the first three years as a professional quarterback, only to be named the starter and lead the Browns to glory?

Ultimately, only time will tell. But if Anderson continues to struggle this season—his stellar Monday Night performance against the Giants aside—then we’ll see Quinn before the season ends.

And you can bet there won’t be any chants of “Derek! Derek!” when Quinn throws an interception.

Fans will see it as “growing pains.”

And when Quinn leads the Browns to their first Super Bowl championship ever—and Cleveland’s first championship in more than 40 years—you can bet he’ll be hailed as Cleveland’s savior more than Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James ever was.

And that’s saying something.

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