Who Can QB? - Charlie Frye

In my second look at the Browns QB situation we look at third year pro, and incumbent starter, Charlie Frye.

Vitals:
Year: 3
Height: 6'-4"
Weight: 218
College: Akron

Holds 54 of Akron's career passing and total offense records. Four year starter. One of 16 QBs to throw for over 2,000 yards in 4 different seasons in NCAA Division I history. Won the 2004 Mid American Conference award for top player in the conference.

Pros: Cleveland born and Cleveland bred. Lives, dies and bleeds orange and brown. Gritty, tough, fierce competitor who hates to lose. Incredible durability despite the insane number of hits he's taken in two years in the NFL. Great athlete. Able to avoid the rush with his legs, make plays in the running game and cause the defense nightmares with his mobility.

Cons: Lacks the prototypical NFL arm strength as his balls seems to float as the distance of the throw increases. His mobility often causes more harm than good as he often runs into sacks, out of the designated play and into trouble. Seems to have happy feat due to the amount of punishment he has incurred. Questionable leadership skills as rumblings were that last season he did not have the "huddle presence" to shut up some of the other voices on the team.

Prognosis: Charlie Frye is going to start the 2007 season opener barring an amazing camp by either DA or the Golden Boy. He finally has an NFL caliber offensive line in front of him and it will be interesting to see how he responds to it. Will he respond by getting his confidence back, taking the QB job and start showing the intangibles that made scouts drool when he was in college? Or has he been too beaten up, just like Tim Couch was, to the point that his psyche is beyond repair? Frye still has the ability to be an NFL caliber starting quarterback but will it be in Cleveland? Sometimes it's tough to come home. I hope he makes it, and something tells me he will, but something tells me that it will be with another NFL team. I hope the added competition and the steadily improving talent makes it happen in Cleveland.