There is growing speculation out of Cleveland that the Browns will deal quarterback Brady Quinn before the October 20 trade deadline. Quinn won the Browns’ starting quarterback job in preseason but struggled mightily once the regular season started and was replaced by Derek Anderson.

Considering the Browns traded Kellen Winslow to the Buccaneers this offseason and Braylon Edwards to the Jets last week, it’s clear that the team has no reservations about dealing former first round picks. So the rumor of Quinn being shipped out of town certainly holds water.

Despite his brutal 2-for-17 passing performance against the Bills last Sunday, Anderson has shown that he can move the offense better than Quinn can. Anderson is turnover prone, but he has the strong arm that head coach Eric Mangini covets. Quinn, on the other hand, displayed poor pocket awareness and the inability to hit receivers in stride during the first few weeks of the season.

But while a trade makes sense for the Browns (Mangini reportedly favors former Jet Brett Ratliff as his backup, making Quinn even more expendable), they just don’t happen that often midseason. I realize Cleveland just dealt Edwards to New York last week, but his recent off-field incident and growing tension with management expedited that process.

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While head coach Eric Mangini won’t confirm it, the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that Brady Quinn has won the Browns’ starting quarterback job over Derek Anderson.

Browns coach Eric Mangini told the quarterbacks Tuesday night and Quinn took the first-team reps in practice Wednesday afternoon.

Quinn acted Wednesday as though he didn’t know. “We’re just out there continuing to battle with one another to get everything better for our team,” he said.

This non-announcement announcement has been long overdue. While Anderson certainly didn’t roll over, Quinn was the better quarterback in preseason and arguably gives the Browns the best chance to win on game day.

The Browns have a solid offensive line, but they need the running game to produce (rookie James Davis anyone?) and Braylon Edwards to prove that he can return to his 2007 form for this team to have a shot at a winning record this year.

Have you heard the latest draft rumors on Mark Sanchez? Apparently only the Lions, Rams, Seahawks, Browns, Jaguars, 49ers, Jets, Redskins and Broncos are either in love, smitten or downright want to get in bed with the USC quarterback.

Is that all?

It seems every day rumors of a new team being interested in Sanchez emerge and while it’s easy to get caught up in all the pre-draft speculation, it would obviously be wise not to believe everything you hear. That said, with the draft quickly approaching, I’ve thoroughly convinced myself that Mark Sanchez will in fact be a Cleveland Brown.

Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire and there’s a ton of smoke coming out of Cleveland that new head coach Eric Mangini isn’t a big Brady Quinn fan. Along with daily Sanchez-is-going-here speculation, there have been just as many Quinn-will-be-traded-here rumors. Maybe Mangini and new GM George Kokinis are just throwing up smokescreens to keep other teams guessing at what their draft day plans are. Or maybe (and this seems more logical by the day) Mangini and Kokinis want to blow up the entire roster and start over and that’s why Kellen Winslow was traded to the Bucs, Braylon Edwards will soon be dealt to the Giants and Quinn will be jettisoned to parts unknown.

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According to a report by the National Football Post, the Browns have received offers for quarterback Brady Quinn and wideout Braylon Edwards and are likely to eventually move both players.

The Cleveland Browns have been engaging in talks to trade quarterback Brady Quinn and wide receiver Braylon Edwards, according to our own Michael Lombardi of the National Football Post.
Lombardi reports he is hearing from multiple league sources that the Browns have a first round pick on the table for Quinn, but may be looking for more. Two teams are currently interested in Quinn’s services.

In addition, Lombardi is hearing that the Browns have a first round pick on the table for wide receiver Braylon Edwards and will most likely trade him before the start of next season.

One other note: Lombardi is hearing the Browns are very interested in Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree.

What’s interesting about the speculation surrounding Cleveland trading Quinn and Edwards is that it isn’t dying down. Even though these are still only rumors, at this point you have to kind of buy into the notion that new head coach Eric Mangini and GM George Kokinis want to blow up the roster and start fresh. They want their own players and that means guys like Quinn, Edwards and Kellen Winslow (who was already dealt this offseason to the Bucs) will eventually be sold to the highest bidder. The Browns are going to be one of the most interesting teams to follow leading up to the draft.

For what it’s worth, I had the Browns taking Crabtree with their first round pick in my second mock, assuming that Edwards would be dealt on or around draft day. But they could also be looking at USC quarterback Mark Sanchez at No. 5 so he could groom under Derek Anderson for a year or two.

According to Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Tony Grossi, the Browns are “smitten” with USC quarterback Mark Sanchez.

I’ve been hearing for weeks that the new Browns’ brass is divided on Quinn, that, in fact, Quinn had more supporters in the old regime, which nailed him to the bench for two years.
I’ve been hearing that the new regime isn’t head-over-heels with Derek Anderson, either, but Anderson’s arm always will impress coaches at this time of year.

I’ve also been hearing that the new regime is smitten with Mark Sanchez of USC and it wouldn’t surprise some — though it would floor everybody in Cleveland — if the Browns took Sanchez with the fifth pick of the draft.

Quinn, of course, has not had much of an opportunity to disprove critics that question his accuracy and arm strength. He deserves that much before the Browns give up on him.

Here’s yet another report that states how the new brass in Cleveland isn’t thrilled with Quinn.

Let’s assume for a second that Grossi is right and the Browns love Sanchez and want to draft him at No. 5. Then Cleveland better trade Quinn (we have to assume that if Cleveland drafts Sanchez, then Quinn would be the one traded because why keep two young quarterbacks with limited to no experience?) before the draft or else they’ll get no value for him if they try and deal him with three quarterbacks on the roster. No team is going to give up a decent draft pick or two for Quinn knowing that the Browns have Anderson and Sanchez on the roster.

It seems like Eric Mangini and George Kokinis either have some master game plan that they’re about to reveal over the next month or they’re completely clueless. Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out for the Browns around draft weekend.

Following the Jay Cutler trade to Chicago, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Browns had a deal on the table that would have sent Brady Quinn to Denver. According to the report, the Redskins would have gotten Cutler, while the Browns would have acquired Washington QB Jason Campbell.

Of course, Browns’ head coach Eric Mangini denied the report less than 24 hours later.

The report comes a little more than a week after Mangini said at the NFL owners meetings that he wouldn’t rule out a trade.

“What I haven’t ruled out is [GM] George [Kokinis] and I looking at any opportunity to improve the team,” he said. “But I in no way am saying that is specific to the quarterback situation. But we would look at any opportunity we thought would improve the team.”

He also said he told both Quinn and Derek Anderson that they’d openly compete for the job in training camp and that he was “excited” about the competition.

There’s more at stake for Quinn in the competition than just the starting job. If he plays at least 70 percent of the snaps next season, he’ll earn $11 million in contract escalators.

There have been more than a handful of rumors this offseason that involve the Browns trading Quinn. Granted, they could all be just that – rumors. But one has to wonder whether or not Mangini is high on Quinn and if he had the choice, whether or not he’d love to blow up the quarterback situation in Cleveland and start over.

But in terms of dealing with this specific rumor, the only thing that doesn’t make sense is why Mangini would want Campbell. Outside of starting experience, why would he want Campbell over Quinn? Campbell has been trying to learn the West Coast Offense for over a year, so to acquire him and try to teach him a new playbook wouldn’t be a very bright idea. If the Browns did make that trade, I think they’d be taking a step back from what they already have.

Here’s an interesting rumor about Brady Quinn and the Browns:

The Sports Guy remains atop my rotation. I was listening on the way home last night, and surprisingly found a Rotoworld blurb when listening to Mike Lombardi talk Brady Quinn.

“I’m just hearing things out of Cleveland that don’t make me feel Brady Quinn is part of their future. … (Quinn’s) support has left the building. We used to call it sponsorship at the Raiders. When your sponsorship goes, you aren’t the same player.”

Quinn’s “sponsorship” was given out by former GM Phil Savage, and he’s long gone. We’ve documented that Lombardi isn’t a huge fan of Quinn recently, saying he lacked accuracy. That’s an opinion that doesn’t really matter. It matters if the Browns agree with him. It’s looking more like they do.

And you thought Eric Mangini was unpopular in Cleveland now. Wait until he trades boy wonder!

Obviously this is all just speculation, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Mangini is already in a rift with defensive tackle Shaun Rogers and it’s clear that he’s not playing favorites. So there’s no reason to believe that Quinn will be guaranteed a starting job and if Mangini feels that he isn’t the Browns’ future, then there would be no stopping him pursuing one of his own guys.

Boy, the Mangini era in Cleveland has really started off with a bang!