Sorry Browns Fans, Colt McCoy Will Be Sitting For A While
April 26, 2010 - 1:26 pm by Ryan PhillipsWhen the Cleveland Browns selected Colt McCoy with the 85th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, fans all across Browns Nation were excited for the future of the franchise. Many, thought the team should just throw caution to the win and thrust the 23-year-old University of Texas product to the fire right away. After all, the depth chart ahead of McCoy is laughably inept.
Well Browns fans I hate to disappoint you but it appears that some combination of Jake Delhomme (a guy who couldn’t beat out future insurance salesman Matt Moore in Carolina) and Seneca Wallace (a guy with 14 career starts) will be manning the reins of your team’s offense next season. Yesterday, Browns president Mike Holmgren said the team plans to sit McCoy for the 2010 season and let him learn as a backup.
I know Browns fans, I know. After years of the soul-crushing Brady Quinn/Derek Anderson twosome, you’re begging for Colt McCoy. His average physical tools and “great intangibles” are surely the way to turn around Cleveland’s fortunes. While I wouldn’t trust Jake Delhomme to quarterback my flag football team, and Wallace hasn’t done anything of worth in the NFL thus far, the prospect of McCoy leading a team shouldn’t exactly blow anyone’s skirt up.
The guy is barely 6’1, weighs 216 pounds and doesn’t have much room to add extra bulk. He has decent speed for a quarterback, but according to Scouts Inc., “Arm strength is below average. He does not show the ability to drive the ball down the field in the vertical passing game. He will need great timing in order to develop into a successful deep-ball passer.”
That’s not a ringing endorsement. Especially when you combine it with the comments under the “Mental Markup” section: “Gunslinger type mentality … he needs to make a big adjustment in the NFL, especially when it comes to going through progressions in the pocket. He clearly locks onto primary target too often. He forces too many throws into coverage when the rush is closing in on him. Also has been very inconsistent in big games/clutch situations throughout his career.”
When you combine all of that with what Scouts Inc. says under “Release” you get a better picture of why McCoy dropped to the third round of the draft. “He does have a quick release but it tends to come out of his hand at about 10 o’clock. He has gotten into a bad habit of short-striding a lot of his throws, which leads to him throwing off-balance. He fails to follow through on too many of his throws, as well.”
So a small guy with a weak arm and bad release habits who locks onto one target, forces balls into coverage and panics when rushed heavily or in a big game situation. Let’s draft him and start him!
The above description is the exact kind of young quarterback who enters the league and falls flat on his face. McCoy was great in college, but the Big XII is not the NFL. He has a long, long way to go until he’s ready to even step on the field during a regular season game.
Holmgren is smart to sit the kid for at least a year. The sad part is that Browns fans will have to deal with the situation in front of McCoy until he’s ready. Haven’t they suffered enough?
8 Responses to “Sorry Browns Fans, Colt McCoy Will Be Sitting For A While”
Which Browns fans are clamoring for Colt to take the reins of the team? Obviously you’re not a Browns fan and you have not a clue about our knowledge of the game or our team.
Since the re-birth of the Browns, we’ve witnessed numerous players taking their shot at the role of starting QB, veterans and rookies alike. With each and every new starting QB our management always pinned the hopes of success squarely between the shoulders of their selection. Couch, Garcia, Holcome, Anderson, or Quinn, it was always the starting QB who was thrown to the wolves while our management continued to bring aboard a mediocre supporting cast.
This draft was significant in more than one way, not only did our management draft for the teams needs as a priority but they avoided placing the first round burden on another young QB.
Building a trust in our management and the direction of our team was the most obvious result of this years draft. Announcing that Colt will ride the pine? It derails the circus that the media creates every season, afterall it was about the only thing Browns related that they could use to sell papers. We finally have a management group in place who appreciates the fan base and it’s pretty obvious that they intend on restoring the league-wide respect for our team.
Maybe you should study up before you insult an entire fanbase with your half-witted opinion.
By Eddie Torres on Apr 27, 2010
Eddie,
While I respect your position, you’re completely off in your reading of this post. The point was that Browns fans now have to deal with an AWFUL combination of players at the quarterback position, rather than something different. I’ve also talked to several Browns fans who would rather have McCoy out there than the two stiffs who will be competing to play in front of them.
It’s more about the options than McCoy.
By Phillips on Apr 27, 2010
Please excuse my pre-coffee rant, but when the entire sports world refers to your team as the “mistake by the lake” you tend to take a defensive posture when discussing the future prospects and trying to forget the miserable past.
The thing I like about Colt McCoy was the number of wins that he piled up in a very stout college conference. I learned to distrust the science of scouting reports long ago and most recently with Mark Sanchez. Proto-typical generally outweighs common sense when the NFL dollars are involved.
Delhome or Wallace? What difference does it make when all of your wideouts combined might translate to one 2nd stringer on most other depth charts? As long as they protect the ball and allow the running game to stretch the field, we’ll be in the better half of our games.
We know full well that it will take time to bring our offense up to speed and make a legitiment run towards the playoffs. We also know what happened when other young QB’s were tossed into that kind of situation, taking the helm of a “rebuilt” offense, so you could say that the “been there done that” feeling keeps most of us very realistic when considering the immediate value of a kid like Colt McCoy.
By Eddie Torres on Apr 27, 2010
Well i would disagree the browns have had talent, they’ve like always just pissed it away, i agree we’ve always needed a quaterback( being the ND fan i am and watching quinn play i thought he could be the awnser but like always the browns have giving there talent away(edwards,winslow.jr,etc) every year i keep hearing the same thing the browns finally have good management which should help McCoy become a good quaterback, once again where rebuilding but give him 3 years and he will be one of the better quaterbacks in the league, McCoy was the best qb taken in the draft and if you think different your silly.
By Chris on Apr 28, 2010
I would say that the Browns have brought in average QB’s in Jake and Senecca. Both are capable of commanding an offense and doing a decent job.
The point I believe that you are missing is that both of them are about 200-300% better than Anderson or Quinn. Those guys are here to play until the QB of the future is ready while grooming him along the way.
The last time the Browns groomed a QB the right way was Bernie Kosar and he was a more than cabable signal caller. They let him learn from Gary Danielson until he was ready.
As long as the Browns are doing it the right way again (finally) I’m OK with waiting for the QB of the future to mature whether it be Colt McCoy or someone else.
By Sean on Apr 28, 2010
How tall is Dree Brees?
How tall is Joe Montana?
Just maybe!
By Chris on Apr 30, 2010
I’m not going to come in here and say Delhomme or Wallace are going to be the savior of this team and anyone who expects that is crazy. Delhomme bring with him something the Browns haven’t had in a long time, The ability to mentor a young QB. I for one am happy he’s here for that reason, name one QB we have had that has been here to mentor any QB we drafted.
Colt McCoy can now “ride the pine” and learn from someone who has had a good career. Delhomme may not be the QB to bring our beloved Browns back to glory, but he will be the QB to teach the QB of the future in McCoy and I for one support Delhomme and am happy he is here.
Go Browns!
By Joe in FL on May 5, 2010