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Ohio.com - Contrite and humble, Quinn looks ahead

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BEREA: His swagger was gone, or, at least, set aside.

After an 11-day holdout that cost him 16 training camp practices and, perhaps, the Browns' starting quarterback job, Brady Quinn sounded humble and contrite Wednesday.

The 22nd overall pick in the NFL Draft in April, Quinn met the media about 12 hours after signing a five-year contract worth a reported $20.2 million if he hits playing-time incentives and has $7.75 million guaranteed. The Notre Dame star hopes Browns fans who think that he let them down will now be able to focus on their common goal winning.

''I think you let people down if you lose,'' Quinn said. ''We haven't lost a game, yet, and we still have high hopes. I think the biggest concentration shouldn't be the holdout, it should be on our season. We have a preseason game this weekend and the focus should be on the team and not what's been going on.''



The Browns are hosts to the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday, and coach Romeo Crennel said Quinn might get in on some simple plays.

Quinn said he had been living out of his suitcases for two weeks while working out in Phoenix, so he would be ready to go when his agent, Tom Condon, told him that the deal was done. When that call came about 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, and Condon asked if he could make a noon flight, Quinn hustled and got to the airport in time. He arrived in Berea about 7 p.m.

''This was a long and enduring process that I never imagined going through nor wanted to,'' Quinn said. ''It was tough seeing how everything went on in camp and not being part of it. But this is a process. My agent has been doing this year after year, having a first-round quarterback and getting them in, and you try to remove yourself from the situation and try and let him get it done.''

Referred to as ''the quarterback'' by Crennel during his absence, Quinn will now try to make a name for himself in the NFL. But he knows Crennel has been hard on previous holdouts like Braylon Edwards and Travis Wilson.

''Believe me, I don't deserve anything,'' Quinn said. ''I think I have to earn a lot with the coaching staff, but also with the team. But that's just something you have to understand, especially as a rookie. You have to earn everything that you get.''

Considered by many to be a top five pick, Quinn's televised draft-day free fall began an agonizing period that didn't conclude until Tuesday. He'd dreamed of playing for the Browns, his favorite team while growing up in Dublin, Ohio, and the wait was agonizing.

''It's awful,'' he said. ''There are so many things that you don't understand. Just to have to sit out from playing the game that you love for that long is horrible.''

Quinn said he doesn't know whether his chance to start has slipped away. Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson and Ken Dorsey are ahead of him on the depth chart going into the game Saturday.

''It's tough to tell,'' he said. ''That's up to coach Crennel. The only thing I can control is what I do now preparing myself, working hard every day and doing what I can to get caught back up.''

While in Phoenix, Quinn said he studied the installation of the Browns' offense on a new laptop, on which he had downloaded video from the previous organized team activities and minicamps. Crennel said Tuesday that he had the feeling Quinn was ''lost'' during the earlier sessions.

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