The Browns should just start 1st round pick Brady Quinn from Day #1 and let him take his lumps like Peyton Manning and Troy Aikman did.  Quinn will only get that chance if he doesn’t hold out but that seems like it may happen as he doesn’t want to get paid like the #22 pick that he was.  I have a feeling that the Browns will give Quinn more money than the average #22 draft pick because he’s a QB.  The Browns have improved their offensive line enough to let Quinn learn on the job.  He was a 4-year starter at Notre Dame and he will definately be able to get the football in Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards’ hands, so the Browns need to open the checkbook.

Derek Anderson appears to be the front runner for the starting job if Quinn reports late.  Anderson showed a great arm when he replaced Charlie Frye when he was injured.  Anderson stands strong in the pocket and delivers rocket passes with his right arm.  But, he often throws into coverage and that has resulted in a lot of pickoffs.  Anderson played in 5 games (3 starts) last season for the Browns and he completed 66 of 117 (56.4%) passes for 793 yards with 5 TD passes and 8 interceptions (63.1 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 4 times for 47 yards (11.8 ypc).

The Browns gave Charlie Frye his big chance last season and he dropped the ball.  Frye is very skittish in the pocket and he has a sub par throwing arm.  He also tends to try to force plays that aren’t there and the results have been awful with a ton of turnovers.  Frye might drop all the way to third on the depth chart this season and that will he a huge disappointment for him as he is a local guy trying to make good from Akron University.  Frye started 13 games last season for the Browns and he completed 252 of 393 passes (64.1%) for 2,454 yards with 10 TD passes and 17 INTs (72.0 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 47 times for 215 yards (4.6 ypc) with 3 TD runs.  Frye has always looked good in the pre season but he often looks like a deer in headlights in real games and that’s a hard trait to shake.  He has played in 20 games (18 starts) for the Browns and he’s completed 350 of 557 (62.8%) passes for 3,456 yards with 14 TD passes and 22 INTs (72.2 QB Rating).  He also has carried the football 65 times for 275 yards (4.2 ypc) with 4 TD runs.

Ken Dorsey is still around for the Browns but he will be lucky to make the team.  Dorsey doesn’t have a good enough throwing arm to succeed in the NFL.  He played in 1 game last season for the Browns and he threw 1 incomplete pass.  Over his NFL career, Dorsey has played in 12 games (10 starts) and he’s completed 171 of 317 passes (53.9%) for 1,712 yards with 8 TD passes and 11 INTs (63.5 QB Rating).  He also has carried the football 9 times for 18 yards (2.0 ypc).

The Browns have released Antonio Perkins.  Perkins was a complete bust in his two seasons for the Cleveland Browns.  The Browns had big problems in the secondary last season and Perkins didn’t play well enough to get on the football field.  Perkins played in 6 games in 2 seasons for the Browns and he made a whopping 2 tackles!  He also returned 3 kickoffs for 82 yards (27.3 avg).

The Browns have terminated fullback Allen Ricard’s contract.  Ricard missed all of last season due to a knee injury and he doesn’t seem to have recovered enough to resume his career.  Look for Lawrence Vickers to take over as the Browns’ starting fullback this season.

When the Browns decided to let Dennis Northcutt walk they knew that they needed to add a punt returner.  Steptoe was good at that in Arizona as he has good hands and always seemed to make the first guy miss.  As a WR he is a little small at 5′8″, 195 pounds and he’s not exceptionally fast as he runs a 4.5 40.  But, he’s fearless and that makes up for a lot of shortcomings.  In 44 games at Arizona, Steptoe caught 131 passes for 1,584 yards (12.1 avg) with 6 TD grabs.  Steptoe will probably make the Browns as a special teams player/fifth WR.

The Browns needed help at DE which explains the late pick of Pittman.  He has nice size at 6′4″, 272 pounds and he runs fairly well (4.89 40) for a guy his size.  He plays hard all the time and is a good run defender.  He will need to work on getting some new pass rush moves as his old ones didn’t produce too many sacks in college.  He played in 36 games (25 starts) at LSU and he made 71 tackles, 18.5 tackles for a loss, had 11 sacks, batted down 4 passes, forced 2 fumbles and recovered a fumble.  Pittman will likely make the Browns and serve as a backup.