Sorry, Charlie: Frye sacked again, dealt to Seahawks

MARLA RIDENOUR
Akron Beacon Journal

September 12, 2007 01:21 am

— The city of Willard saved money when it posted a proud, but innocuous sign at its outskirts reading: “Home of Charlie Frye, NFL quarterback.”
Frye, the kid who grew up with a poster of Bernie Kosar in his bedroom, achieved his childhood dream of playing quarterback for the Browns. But that dream ended Tuesday, when the former University of Akron standout was traded to the Seattle Seahawks for a sixth-round draft pick.
Soon, another Ohioan who dressed in Browns garb as a youngster, Dublin’s Brady Quinn, will attempt to lead Cleveland’s struggling franchise back to respectability.
For the short term, general manager Phil Savage said Derek Anderson will be the starter when the Browns (0-1) host Cincinnati (1-0) on Sunday, and Quinn will move up to No. 2.
Ken Dorsey, who served as Quinn mentor’s until he was released Sept. 1, was re-signed to resume tutoring Quinn, the 22nd overall pick from Notre Dame.
“If we waited another week, we might lose out on Ken Dorsey; there was a lot of talk he was going to Seattle,” Savage said Tuesday. “The value of what we got was about the same as it

would have been on draft day, in June or August.”
Frye, a third-round pick in 2005, went 6-13 as a starter and emerged from a competition with Anderson this summer as No. 1 on the depth chart almost by default. The stronger-armed Anderson was perceived as ahead when camp began, but he appeared unable to handle the pressure.
But Frye was merely a stopgap until the Browns could get Quinn ready, a process that slowed after Quinn’s holdout cost him 11 days and 16 training-camp practices. Now it is Anderson, 0-3 in his career as a starter, who must cope with that uncertainty.
“By making Brady the backup, it obviously ramps up his preparation in terms of the number of reps and keeping him on course with the potential opportunity to play at some point this year,” Savage said.
Asked why the Browns won’t start Quinn against the Bengals, Savage said: “We’ve had those discussions, we’ve talked about it a lot. There is a feeling that he’s certainly closer to being ready to play. But we want to be able to give him a full gamut of plays and give him a chance to have some success. I don’t know if that happens in two weeks, four weeks, six weeks. We feel good about what he’s doing. There’s some things that he needs to get some experience on the practice field with.
“The important thing in the big picture is we develop Brady Quinn in the right way... and win.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Frye was headed to Seattle, which reached the Super Bowl after the 2005 season. He’ll learn the West Coast offense under coach Mike Holmgren and be No. 3 behind Matt Hasselbeck and Seneca Wallace. The Seahawks want to use Wallace as a wide receiver and punt returner, especially after receiver D.J. Hackett sprained his ankle in the opener.
“I know the best of my career is still ahead of me,” Frye said in a statement released by the Browns.
Seattle visits Cleveland on Nov. 4.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Frye is the first quarterback since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to start his team’s season opener and be traded before week two.
Savage said he’d been floating the idea of trading Frye or Anderson for months. That took on more urgency after Frye’s dismal performance in Sunday’s 34-7 home-opening loss to Pittsburgh. Frye completed 4-of-10 passes for 34 yards and an interception and was sacked five times. His quarterback rating was 10.0.
Anderson replaced him with 6:34 left in the second quarter and completed 13-of-28 for 184 yards and a touchdown, plus an interception and a sack. His rating was 65.2.
Savage said: “A year ago I was saying, ‘Let’s try to build the thing around Charlie.’ We attempted to do that. He came into a very tough situation. We’ve had a number of coordinators; I vouched for him in a number of different situations that came up during his time here. But at the same time, Sunday we needed to see more production. The most revealing thing that happened was that in his 10 (actually 15) attempts, he took five sacks; in Derek’s 28 (actually 29) attempts, he took one sack.”
Savage said Frye talked to several people in Berea on Monday night, including Savage and coach Romeo Crennel. Savage met with Frye again at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday to give him the news.
“He’s obviously disappointed,” Savage said. “When you get drafted in the third round and you come to your hometown team, you want it to to turn out differently. He realizes he was put in a pretty tough spot. I told him some of the things he’s been through the last two years will serve him well. He’s been through a lot more than a lot of other young quarterbacks. I think it will help him.
“He handled it with maturity. He’s a good person, he works hard, and I think he’ll do OK out there. It’s going to be a different system; that will give him a chance to grow and develop.”
Akron coach J.D. Brookhart said he feels bad for Frye, but he hasn’t lost faith in him.
“He works very hard. He’s got all the intangibles,” Brookhart said. “You don’t know (Sunday) if the receivers ran the wrong routes, or the protection wasn’t right. You don’t know how to assess everything off a quarter and a half. It’s not like that’s his first game.
“Charlie will have his opportunity again, and knowing him, he’ll be prepared for it. Charlie is the right kind of guy. He will press on. He’ll be in the NFL a long time.”

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.