Jake Delhomme in Cleveland: Can He Pull a Kurt Warner?

Welcome to the new era of Cleveland Browns football. 

In one week the Cleveland Browns have released a former Pro Bowl quarterback in Derek Anderson, traded a former first-round pick in Brady Quinn, traded for a lifetime back-up/wide receiver in Seneca Wallace, and signed a 35-year-old quarterback coming off the worst season of his career in Jake Delhomme.

Looks promising doesn’t it?

As a diehard Browns fan and football enthusiast, what has transpired in Cleveland over the past week does not have my hopes up for any signs of positive quarterback play for the Cleveland Browns in the upcoming season.  But it does have me wondering, what if?

The what if question that I am asking is: what if Jake Delhomme can pull a Kurt Warner and turn his career around in Cleveland like Warner did in Arizona?

Warner was 34 years old turning 35 when he signed a one year deal with the Arizona Cardinals in 2005, and just like Delhomme was coming off the not so greatest years of his career after being released by the Rams in 2003 and holding the clipboard in 2004 for the Giants after Eli Manning took over nine games in as a rookie.

The immediate results for Kurt Warner were not the greatest in Arizona.  In 2005 he began this season as starter, was pulled in favor of McCown, and then returned to the starter’s role again.  In 2006 he began the year as starter, and then was replaced by Matt Leinart in week four.  In 2007 he took over for the injured Leinart in the third game of the season, and never looked back from there.

Warner’s legacy will not be remembered for how many times he gave up the starting quarterback position with his three different teams, the 12 interception to four touchdown ratio he held in his last seasons with the Rams, or his rough start in Arizona.  It will be remembered for how he rejuvenated two franchises.  In the end, he led Arizona to three playoff appearances and one Super Bowl appearance: all after the age of 35.

So why can’t Jake Delhomme do the same thing in Cleveland?  He will not be asked to throw the ball as much as Warner did, or lead team into playoff contention here like he had to in Carolina. 

He will basically be asked to manage the game, be a veteran leader to a young group of receivers, and hand the ball off to Jerome Harrison and whomever else the Browns have in their backfield.

The Cleveland Browns’ quarterback position is one of the most scrutinized, overhyped positions in all of football, and Delhomme will be blasted in the Cleveland media for every false move he makes.  But Delhomme has an opportunity to turn around a team that has been struggling since 1999 to develop an identity: much like Warner did when he signed on with Arizona in 2005.

At the end of their careers Delhomme and Warner will probably not be in the same breath.  Warner has won a Super Bowl, been named the MVP, and has been labeled one of the “greatest stories of all time.”  Delhomme has led his team to the Super Bowl loss, but was a success six of his seven seasons as the starter in Carolina.

No matter what it looks like in the end, the amount of interceptions that Delhomme threw in an injury-plagued 2009 season, and the movement of a former Pro-Bowler and first-round pick out of Cleveland: this move still has me wondering, What If?