Quinn is a low-risk endeavor for Denver

[SOCALORADO.]

Quinn is a low-risk endeavor for Denver
March, 14, 2010 Mar 147:30PM ETEmail Print Share By Bill WilliamsonMy reaction to the Denver Broncos’ decision to trade for Brady Quinn?

Why not?


Quinn
OrtonIt's worth taking a chance on this former No. 1 pick. Denver did not give up much for Quinn, swapping backup running back Peyton Hillis, a sixth-round pick in 2011 and a conditional 2012 pick for Quinn.

That’s not a whole lot for a former first-round pick who is just 25 years old. Quinn may be heading toward bust status, but he has not been officially written off as a wasted prospect.

Denver coach Josh McDaniels has a great reputation for working with quarterbacks. Quinn fits McDaniels’ system. McDaniels made Matt Cassel a strong player in New England in 2008 and Kyle Orton performed well much of last season under McDaniels.

Maybe McDaniels can help Quinn reach his potential. Quinn will likely be very comfortable with McDaniels coaching him. Quinn played for Charlie Weis at Notre Dame. McDaniels is a Weis protégée.

Denver considered making a run at Quinn last year. The price tag would have been much higher. Denver got Quinn at a bargain basement price Sunday because Cleveland washed its hands of him. Quinn was 2-7 as Cleveland’s starter last year. He was mistake prone.

It does say something that new Cleveland head honcho Mike Holmgren had no interest in keeping Quinn. Holmgren knows his way around a quarterback room.

Still, McDaniels sees something in Quinn and he didn’t overspend to get him. It is worth it. If Quinn is the same bumbling player in practice in Denver as he was in games in Cleveland, it will go down as a low-cost mistake.

Orton will likely go into the 2010 season as the starter, but Quinn will be given the chance to compete with him and make his case to be the long-term quarterback. At the very least, Quinn appears to be an upgrade at backup quarterback over Chris Simms, who was atrocious last year when he had to play for an injured Orton.

Orton will surely feel more heat from Quinn this summer than he did from Simms last year. Denver brought in Quinn to see if he can become a solid starter at some point. Orton has to know it. Simms was never a threat.

It will be interesting to see if Orton shows up for Denver’s offseason conditioning program that starts Monday. Orton is a restricted free agent (he was given the first-round tender) and most restricted free agents aren’t expected to report to the offseason programs because they won’t sign their tenders until the summer. Perhaps Orton will feel the need to show up.

Or perhaps he will stay away as a form of protest.

I don’t expect Quinn to be ready to beat out Orton right away. It may take McDaniels some time to help Quinn erase his past on-field demons. But if Quinn has a good training camp and a better preseason than Orton, Denver might want to give him a chance to become the long-term answer at quarterback.

Quinn’s arrival in Denver may mean the Broncos won’t draft a quarterback early and go with a trio of Orton, Quinn and 2009 sixth-round pick Tom Brandstater in 2010.

In short, this move gives Denver options and it gives it a chance to resurrect the career of a player who was considered a top-flight prospect just three years ago.

At the price, it was a worthy trade.

About sums it up. Suprisingly this is from E!SPN, no less!

http://espn.go.com/nfl/

[Broncolingus]

I read this yesterday and agree 100% with fat boy overall...esp. with what it 'cost' Denver.

...overall, a good move methinks.

...just wish could've found a way to keep Hillis but wish him the best.

[NightTrainLayne]

Oton's already said that he will attend the OCA's this week. However, he will be late because he is attending the Player's Association meetings in Hawaii the next 2-3 days.

[Broncolingus]

Oton's already said that he will attend the OCA's this week. However, he will be late because he is attending the Player's Association meetings in Hawaii the next 2-3 days.

Yes...

...and still a glorious avvy there, NTL...:salute:

[G_Money]

Quinn's low-risk in view of the cost to get him, sure. Especially when compared to the 2 first-rounders Chicago gave up for Cutler.

He's not low-risk in terms of the reward we need to get from him. I know there are still some people who think Orton is the answer - I don't. If Quinn isn't the answer either, then McDaniels isn't gonna get the chance to sort out who is. That'll be his 3rd strike (didn't want Cutler, chose Orton to replace him and had that not work out, then picked Quinn to replace Orton). Quinn's got to work in the next 2ish years or McDaniels is gonna be out of a job.

The '11 strike is still looming large in all this, too. Quinn has 2 years left on his contract, and Orton's ours until the new CBA is determined (or someone pays us a first-rounder for him as an RFA).

So if there's a strike next year that hampers Quinn's development and/or shortens the season, we'll have even less time to determine if we want to pay him, and how much, before he hits free agency (and Orton does too as a UFA).

Quinn did not cost us much to obtain, but he could cost McDaniels everything if he can't perform and is more Tim Couch than Carson Palmer.

He's a Bronco now, so I wish him luck. 2010 won't be boring, that's for sure - unless we're running the exact same offense, anyway. Hopefully Josh incorporates a WR standing past the first down marker so we can see if Quinn is more likely to notice and complete a pass to him than Orton was.

~G

[T.K.O.]

Quinn's low-risk in view of the cost to get him, sure. Especially when compared to the 2 first-rounders Chicago gave up for Cutler.

He's not low-risk in terms of the reward we need to get from him. I know there are still some people who think Orton is the answer - I don't. If Quinn isn't the answer either, then McDaniels isn't gonna get the chance to sort out who is. That'll be his 3rd strike (didn't want Cutler, chose Orton to replace him and had that not work out, then picked Quinn to replace Orton). Quinn's got to work in the next 2ish years or McDaniels is gonna be out of a job.

The '11 strike is still looming large in all this, too. Quinn has 2 years left on his contract, and Orton's ours until the new CBA is determined (or someone pays us a first-rounder for him as an RFA).

So if there's a strike next year that hampers Quinn's development and/or shortens the season, we'll have even less time to determine if we want to pay him, and how much, before he hits free agency (and Orton does too as a UFA).

Quinn did not cost us much to obtain, but he could cost McDaniels everything if he can't perform and is more Tim Couch than Carson Palmer.

He's a Bronco now, so I wish him luck. 2010 won't be boring, that's for sure - unless we're running the exact same offense, anyway. Hopefully Josh incorporates a WR standing past the first down marker so we can see if Quinn is more likely to notice and complete a pass to him than Orton was.

~G

what was a better option at this point ? drafting a guy like tebow ? or even going after one of the top qb prospects? which would cost a gazillionjillionbillion......million dollars in the uncapped pre-lockout year
we still would have had to groom one of them for a year or 2 and pay them in 2011. this gives us a guy with potential and 700K salary.
i dont see antway this makes or breaks mcD.
it is a smart move by the coaching staff and FO....nothing more ,nothing less.
if anything this will keep us from paying simms damn near 3 mil to stink up the field (if needed)
i say its a brilliant move....BRILLIANT !

[Ravage!!!]

The rookies this year aren't going to be getting a gazillion dollars because its an uncapped year. THey will be getting the same as in the past years.

[G_Money]

what was a better option at this point ? drafting a guy like tebow ? or even going after one of the top qb prospects? which would cost a gazillionjillionbillion......million dollars in the uncapped pre-lockout year
we still would have had to groom one of them for a year or 2 and pay them in 2011. this gives us a guy with potential and 700K salary.
i dont see antway this makes or breaks mcD.
it is a smart move by the coaching staff and FO....nothing more ,nothing less.
if anything this will keep us from paying simms damn near 3 mil to stink up the field (if needed)
i say its a brilliant move....BRILLIANT !

I don't have a problem with the move. It has it's benefits and drawbacks, as any decision would have. I can see the appeal of Quinn over some other options. Josh was gonna have to groom his own QB, because Orton won't cut it long-term. And it seems that he's gonna absolutely play Orton this year and let Quinn back him up, which is probably the smart play.

We didn't pay much for this 1st round QB in either salary or draftpicks, so that's a good thing. Assuming this 1st round QB can learn to play like a 1st rounder should, of course.

I'm just saying that there's no other move coming at QB. THIS is the move. We're not drafting a young stud QB or trying to pry Kolb away from his team or something. Our plan at QB now seems to be Orton for a year, with Quinn backing him up, and then (assuming we play football in 2011) move Quinn out into a starting role if he can handle it. After the 2 year audition as a starter for us I can't see Orton coming back on a yearly basis. The CBA will be resolved whenever the next season starts, and Orton will be a UFA.

So after this year Brady Quinn is what we'll have. Josh's future will stand or fall on whether Quinn can be the QB he needs. I was wondering who McDaniels would bet his head coaching position on, because Orton would be a low-percentage option.

He's betting it on Wink Martindale and Brady Quinn. Now we know, and we can watch how those two bets play out. Martindale has a pretty good set of talent to work with now that we've better fortified the DL, though there are still holes. I'm sure we'll address more of em in the draft.

And Quinn should have a better chance to succeed here than in Cleveland.

But neither of those calls is low-risk. Quinn came at a bargain price, but that's a totally different answer. The amount of time McDaniels will have to invest to prepare and train Quinn, and the amount of time on the field he'll need to allow him to prove himself, preclude another QB option IMO.

In a couple of years we'll either be saying, "McDaniels really DOES know what he's doing, yay Brady Quinn!" or we'll be looking for a new QB and a new head coach to find him.

Fingers crossed it's the first one.

~G

[HORSEPOWER 56]

Personally, I think McDaniels sees Quinn as a poor man's Clausen. Both were Weis' guys, both have comparable college stats and are a lot more similar talent-wise than they are given credit for. Clausen will be a first round pick. If Quinn works out, great. If he doesn't, we didn't spend a 1st round pick to figure that out.

[jmoss10686]

I actually still think Brady has some upside. It's tough to do anything with Mohamed Massquoi and Chansi Stuckey as your top two receivers.

[HORSEPOWER 56]

I actually still think Brady has some upside. It's tough to do anything with Mohamed Massquoi and Chansi Stuckey as your top two receivers.

Even then if you watch highlights against Detroit (yeah I know they suck) and SD last year (who wasn't exactly a slouch), Quinn looked pretty darn good. Like he did with Edwards and Winslow against us 2 years ago.

I'm hoping he can play like this for us (with consistency) and that we keep the weapons for him he needs to prosper here (Marshall, Scheffler, Royal, and a decent defense).

[xzn]

Well said G~Money as usual you articulate what I've been grasping for words to say myself. I feel you're right on that THIS is THE move at QB.

If you are a Bronco Fan you need to be cheering for him to become "The Mighty Quinn".

Here's hoping that he's a golden domer more like Montana, or at least Theisman, than he is like Rick Mirer!