So with the Browns signing free-agent quarterback Jake Delhomme, Cleveland apparently will now try to move quarterback Brady Quinn.
They shouldn’t call the team that made Delhomme a free agent.
According to Charles Chandler of the Charlotte Observer, the Panthers have shown no interest in acquiring Quinn, a 2007 first-round draft pick who has to date been a bust for the Browns.
Chandler points to Quinn’s “hefty contract” as one of the factors that might keep teams from trading for him. Actually, Quinn’s inability to unlock escalators tied to playing time make the contract anything but “hefty.”
Per NFLPA records, he’s signed for two more years, at salaries of $700,000 and $700,000. And while he can trigger a $5.9 million escalator for 2011, he needs to take at least 70 percent of the snaps in 2010 to make it happen.
Given his failure to hit any of the past play-time triggers, it’s not a bad deal at all. If Quinn plays enough this year to activate the escalator, it will mean that he’s finally playing better than he has in any of his first three seasons.
Thus, if teams are shying away from Quinn, it’s likely for reasons other than his contract.
All that said, we still think that a reunion with Charlie Weis in Kansas City remains one of the few possible destinations for Quinn. Our guess is that, either way, the Browns will squat on him for now as a low-priced third-stringer, and that if they don’t get something for him in trade before the draft perhaps they’ll cut him loose so his presence won’t undermine the on-field portion of the offseason program.