Charlie Weis prepared Brady Quinn for just about everything at Notre Dame.
Weis taught Quinn an NFL offense and gave him the ability to unleash it against college defenses. In some ways, Quinn was like a master's student in a classroom of freshmen. Quinn learned the West Coast offense from Tyrone Willingham. Weis took him to new levels with his imaginative schemes. He was a great student.
What Quinn wasn't prepared for was what happened since he left South Bend. Draft day was a disaster. He sat in the Green Room watching team after team pass on him. Although he was elated to be rescued by the Browns with the 22nd pick in the first round, he felt as battered as David Carr during a 70-sack season.
His first few minicamp performances have been filled with inaccurate passes, which shouldn't be a surprise. The Browns are installing a completely new offense, a copy of the Mike Martz-Norv Turner-Air Coryell system. Passes hit the ground more often in Browns minicamp than at most minicamps currently going on, but those incompletions aren't limited to Quinn. Receivers are also learning the steps, and Charlie Frye and others are adjusting to the terminology.
The problem for Quinn is that criticism of his accuracy was one of the reasons he slipped in the first round. Quinn is fighting an uphill battle in his role at Browns camp.
"I don't think I'm quite there yet," Quinn said. "It's hard to put down a percentage on it. There's a lot of time left. Hopefully, we'll have a better indication once training camp starts."
That's another problem for Quinn. To report to training camp, Quinn needs to sign a contract, and that won't be easy. Arguably, he lost $20 million to $30 million in guarantees by dropping from the top of the draft to the 22nd pick. He's in a slot that merits a five-year contract that would average less than $1.8 million a year. Quinn is on a team that paid a guard (Eric Steinbach) $7 million a year, and a tackle not expected to start (Kevin Shaffer) more than $6 million a year.
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Brady Quinn is focused on learning the Browns' offense and getting himself under contract.
How can the future quarterback of the Browns lock himself into a deal in which he would make that much less than the blockers in front of him?
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