Cleveland Browns veteran QBs have been bridge to nowhere
By Thomas Moore
You would think after mismanaging the Jeff Garcia situation in 2004 the Browns would have tried something new in 2005.
The problem, however, was that the team still needed a quarterback while waiting for third-round draft pick Charlie Frye, so they made a trade with Seattle for Trent Dilfer.
Dilfer was a former No. 1 overall pick by Tampa Bay, and won a Super Bowl with Baltimore in 2000 by basically staying out of the way of the Ravens’ defense. After spending four seasons in Seattle, the Browns were hoping that Dilfer could resurrect his AFC North success, while also mentoring Frye and Luke McCown.
“He’s a winner and he’s a tremendous man,” then-Browns general manager Phil Savage said at the time in comments eerily similar to Farmer’s. “You look at the mountaintop highs and valley lows he has struggled with. But through his career he’s figured out what it takes to win in the NFL.”
Much like Garcia, Dilfer’s time in Cleveland peaked early as he led the Browns to a Week 2 win on the road against Green Bay.
Dilfer would go just 4-7 as the Browns starting quarterback as the Browns made the slow transition to Frye as the starter. Dilfer also suffered a partial tear of the patella tendon in his right knee that required off-season surgery.
Dilfer chafed during the season at having to help Frye (so much for being a good mentor) and at the play calling of offensive coordinator Mo Carthon (we have to give Dilfer credit there).
“Honestly, the only thing that was a bummer was I had the worst offensive coordinator I’ve ever had in my career,” Dilfer told The Plain Dealer in a 2014 article. “If you ask anybody on that team that year, they’d say the same thing. It was a terrible hire by (then-Browns head coach Romeo Crennel). It put all of us in a terrible situation. That’s the only reason. I made it very clear that I was not going to play one more snap as long as (Carthon) was there.”
The Browns gave Dilfer his wish in the off-season, trading him to San Francisco and closing the book on yet another failed bridge quarterback.
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