20 most disappointing Cleveland Browns quarterbacks of all-time
By Randy Gurzi
Most disappointing Cleveland Browns quarterbacks: 17. Ty Detmer (1999-2000)
The NFL Draft used to be much longer than it is now, which is the only reason Ty Detmer ended up being drafted. The former BYU quarterback was taken in the ninth round of the 1992 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers — where he spent his first four seasons in the league.
Detmer was a player who had a ton of success for the Cougars, but the league was still wary of shorter quarterbacks which attributed to his fall in the draft. The 6-foot-0, 189-pound Detmer never got a shot in Green Bay to prove what he could do since Brett Favre never missed games. But then in 1996, he got a chance to start for the Philadelphia Eagles following an injury to Rodney Peete.
He won his first four starts and finished 7-4. Then in 1997, he went 2-5 and then spent one season with the San Francisco 49ers before joining the Cleveland Browns in 1999 — their first season back in the NFL. At the age of 31, Detmer was supposed to serve as a mentor to Tim Couch and he had to start two games during his first season with the team.
Cleveland lost both of those contests as Detmer completed just 51.6 percent of his passes. Then in 2000, he injured his Achilles and missed the entire season. He left the following offseason after hardly playing much at all.