Ranking The 15 Cleveland Browns Starting Quarterbacks Since 1999
On Sunday in Pittsburgh, Colt McCoy will become the 16th quarterback to start a game for the Browns since they returned to the NFL in 1999.
The NFL is a quarterback-driven league, and the consistent inconsistency of the Browns' quarterbacks has been a large part of the team's struggles. The Browns have a record of 60-122 since coming back to the league.
Cleveland has just two winning seasons during that time and their lone playoff appearance was in 2002. The Browns have won more than five games just four times in 11 seasons.
With all of the failures, it's not easy to make a ranking of the 15 quarterbacks who have started at least one game for the Browns. The factors will include overall record, statistics and general effectiveness (or ineffectiveness).
The rankings will first have an analysis of the QB's performance and then the player's career stats with the Browns. The stats will combine both starts and appearances as the backup.
Feel free to debate the rankings in the comments section.
Here's hoping that Colt McCoy can quickly plant himself high on this list and be the only Browns' starting quarterback for the next ten years.
15. Ken Dorsey
1 of 15
There was no shortage of candidates for last place on this list, but in a close battle, Dorsey takes the cake for worst Browns starting quarterback since 1999.
Dorsey started three games for the Browns in 2008, as the third different starter that season. He was 0-3 as the starter and led the Browns' offense to a grand total of 19 points in Weeks 14 through 16 combined.
He never looked comfortable in the Browns offense and either threw the ball to a check-down receiver or to the opposing team. Dorsey threw seven interceptions and no touchdowns with the Browns.
The stats should tell most of the story, but if they don't, this will: Dorsey was so bad as the Browns starting quarterback in those three weeks that Romeo Crennel chose Bruce Gradkowski, who he had picked up off the street, to start Week 17.
Dorsey's Stats: 0-3 Record, completed 47%, 370 yards, 0 TD, 7 INT, 26.4 rating
14. Bruce Gradkowski
2 of 15
It's hard to put Gradkowski here because he only made one start and he's proven to be a better quarterback since, but his lone Browns start was so terrible that he left me no choice.
Gradkowski was picked up off the street late in the 2008 season and started in Week 17 at Pittsburgh. He was the fourth quarterback to start a game for the Browns that season.
In a 31-0 loss, Gradkowski was 5-for-16 with 18 yards and two interceptions. His quarterback rating was 1.0.
It just doesn't get much worse than that. He might have been thrown into an impossible situation, but he played impossibly bad for an NFL player.
I will admit that these rankings are skewed toward 2008, which considering the expectations and circumstances may have been the most frustrating Browns season since they returned to the league.
Gradkowski's Stats: 0-1 Record, 33%, 26 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, 2.8 rating
13. Spergon Wynn
3 of 15
Like Gradkowski, Wynn also started just one game for the Browns, coming in 2000. In Week 14 of that season at Jacksonville, Wynn led the Browns offense in a shutout effort in a 48-0 loss.
Wynn also appeared in seven games that season as the backup, and the results were not much better. The rookie had a cannon of a right arm, but no idea of how to control that cannon, leading to a barrage of misguided lasers.
Unlike some of the other castoffs on this list, Wynn was unable to move on and find success elsewhere. In fact, he appeared in three games and made two starts for the Vikings in 2001 and was never heard from again.
Wynn's Stats: 0-1 Record, 40.7%, 167 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 41.2 rating
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12. Doug Pederson
4 of 15
Pederson took over after Tim Couch's shoulder injury halfway through the 2000 season and it was a disaster. He was so horrible that wide receivers Kevin Johnson and Dennis Northcutt took some snaps at quarterback in an early and ugly version of the Wildcat.
The longtime Brett Favre backup in Green Bay should have provided some experience and stability, but instead the Browns were 1-7 and suffered two shutouts during his time as the starter. The offense was limited to 8.3 points per game in those eight contests.
Pederson's Stats: 1-7 Record, 55.7%, 1,047 yards, 2 TD, 8 INT, 56.6 rating
11. Luke McCown
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"Luuuuuuuuke!" is what Browns fans chanted during their short-lived love affair with McCown, the third-string quarterback in 2004.
McCown was 0-4 as the Browns starter and led the offense to just 29 points combined in those four starts. To be fair, he was just a rookie, but his ineffectiveness was enough to make some Browns fans queasy.
He has found a way to stick around in the NFL, as he's currently the backup in Jacksonville.
McCown's Stats: 0-4 Record, 49%, 608 yards, 4 TD, 7 INT, 52.6 rating
10. Ty Detmer
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Detmer started the first and last games of the re-born Browns season in 1999, both losses.
Fans who had been anxiously waiting three years for the Browns to return to the field are still traumatized by Detmer and the Browns' performance in Week 1, a 43-0 loss to the Steelers at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Eleven seasons later, it's not clear if the Browns and their fans have recovered from falling flat out of the gate.
Detmer was supposed to provide an experienced veteran that would groom young Tim Couch and take the lumps for the inexperienced team early in the season. Instead, he was so bad in that first game that Head Coach Chris Palmer had to start the rookie Couch in Week 2.
Many Browns fans believe that the battering Couch took in that first season left him scarred and played a significant role in his failure to develop into a franchise quarterback in the NFL.
Detmer's Stats: 0-2, 51.6%, 548 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT, 75.7 rating
9. Jake Delhomme
7 of 15
Some might look at this ranking and think that Delhomme's tenure with the Browns is incomplete. I've seen enough to argue that he should never again start a game for the Browns.
He looks like a 35-year-old washed up veteran and has looked slow and old. Some of his decision-making his been baffling, including the falling-down-sidearm pass that he threw in Week 1 that was intercepted and basically cost the Browns the game.
Like Detmer, Delhomme was brought in to hold down the fort for the Browns until they get a franchise quarterback, whenever that is. But, healthy or not, he clearly is not the quarterback that he used to be in Carolina.
Delhomme's Stats: 0-1, 55%, 324 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT, 48.2 rating
8. Brady Quinn
8 of 15
Browns fans were surprised and ecstatic when Quinn dropped to Cleveland with the 22nd pick in the 2007 Draft. Quinn spent his time in Cleveland showing why so many teams passed on him.
Despite losing quarterback competitions with Derek Anderson in training camp, Quinn was always the fan-favorite in Cleveland. Browns fans chanted "Brady! Brady!" and believed that the product of Notre Dame who grew up a Browns fan would be the franchise quarterback the Browns had been searching for.
Instead, Quinn was 4-9 as the Browns starting quarterback and will be remembered for his legendary check-downs. Rarely looking down the field, Quinn didn't pan out and was traded to the Broncos after the 2009 season.
Quinn's Stats: 4-9 Record, 52%, 1,902 yards, 10 TD, 9 INT, 66.8 rating
7. Trent Dilfer
9 of 15
Like others on this list, Dilfer was brought in to be a veteran presence and failed. Browns fans held their breath every time he went back to throw, not having any clue where the ball might end up.
At times it looked like he was throwing with his eyes closed.
The Pro Bowler and Super Bowl-winning quarterback was a shell of his former self as the Browns quarterback in 2005. He was 4-7 during the 2005 season.
Dilfer's Stats: 4-7 Record, 60%, 2,321 yards, 11 TD, 12 INT, 76.9 rating
6. Charlie Frye
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"Charlie! Charlie!"
Boy do Browns fans love their backup quarterbacks in Cleveland, especially if he grew up a Browns fan, like Frye did.
Just like Quinn, Frye drew the admiration of Browns fans and the hope that he would get into the game. And when he did finally get the chance, he showed that he wasn't worthy of starting games in the NFL.
Frye's career in Cleveland ended in 2007 after suffering a 34-7 loss to the Steelers in week one (do you see a pattern developing here?). He was traded to Seattle early the next week.
Frye's Stats: 5-13 record, 63%, 3,490 yards, 14 TD, 23 INT, 71.2 rating
5. Jeff Garcia
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Garcia was brought to Cleveland as the latest franchise savior in 2004, and to nobody's surprise, it didn't work out.
He still had the ability to scramble around and make some throws, but was generally ineffective. Garcia was eventually replaced by Kelly Holcomb and later Luke McCown.
Garcia's Stats: 3-7 record, 57%, 1,731 yards, 10 TD, 9 INT, 76.7 rating
4. Seneca Wallace
12 of 15
This grade is largely incomplete and I know I will catch some flack for this rating. But, he has looked good and kept the Browns competitive despite going 1-3 in his four starts.
Wallace has largely overachieved what was expected from him, the exact opposite of most of the players on this list. He also led the Browns to a win over the Bengals in week four.
Wallace's Stats: 1-3 Record, 63%, 693 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT, 88.5 rating
3. Tim Couch
13 of 15
The numbers are not pretty. He was projected to be a franchise quarterback and Pro Bowler, and maybe even a Hall of Famer.
Tim Couch was none of those, but he started the most games (59) for the Browns and had the most wins (22) among any of the quarterbacks on this list. He suffered with a new franchise and was surrounded by terrible athletes.
Couch also was instrumental in the 2002 team that made the playoffs, still the only Browns playoff appearance since returning. He led a couple of big comebacks during that season to push the Browns to the playoffs, although Kelly Holcomb started over him in the playoff contest.
Couch was never in a position to succeed in Cleveland, and his career ended very early due to injury. I'm not making excuses for him, but on a list of so many terrible quarterbacks, he's not quite as bad.
Couch's Stats: 22-37 Record, 60%, 11,131 yards, 64 TD, 67 INT, 75.1 rating
2. Kelly Holcomb
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Holcomb always appeared more effective than Couch and was the starting quarterback for the Browns in their lone playoff game since re-birth, at Pittsburgh in the 2002 season.
He set an NFL record with 429 yards in that post-season game, and had the Browns out to a 17-point lead, which they blew of course.
While Kelly didn't last in Cleveland long, he will be remembered for helping the Browns get to the playoffs and his performance against the Steelers.
Holcomb's Stats: 4-9 Record, 64%, 3,438 yards, 26 TD, 21 INT, 83.3 rating
1. Derek Anderson
15 of 15
I know that Anderson has since proven to be just as bad as the others on this list, but unlike the others, he did make a Pro Bowl. That is what separates D.A. and makes him number one on this list.
His 2007 season was by far the best of anybody on this list. He threw for nearly 3,800 yards, and had 29 touchdowns with just 19 interceptions. Anderson also led the Browns to the brink of the playoffs (although he helped them miss it with his awful performance against the Bengals in Week 16).
By no means is he a deserving No. 1 on any list, but when we are looking at all the bad Browns quarterbacks, that Pro Bowl season stands out. He also has the best winning percentage (.471) of anybody on the list.
Anderson's Stats: 16-18 Record, 53%, 7,083 yards, 46 TD, 45 INT, 70 rating
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