Is Derek Anderson worth re-signing?  That’s the question on the bottom of Ice’s signature for this edition of Dawg Fight.  However, the question of “worth” is a tricky one.  This is the version I like the best to this situation as defined by Webster’s.

Worth:
1 a: equal in value to b: having assets or income equal to2: deserving of

First and foremost, Derek Anderson (or his agent) stated earlier this year that they wanted to see what Derek was worth in free agency.  This would allow them to get equal dollar value from the Browns if they so choose to keep his services.

Secondly, Phil Savage has to determine Derek Anderson’s worth to the Browns AND other NFL teams.  Then if given an offer, he has to see if it’s worth parting ways with Anderson.

Knowing this we can delve into our situation a bit more. 

I get yelled at all the time but I’m going to drill it into your heads one more time:

When running a balanced or run heavy offense, Charlie Frye was 3-0, when it was pass heavy Frye was 1-11.  When running a balanced or run heavy offense, Derek Anderson was 9-0, when it was pass heavy he was 1-7.

Knowing this information, what changed? 

Quick analysis tells you the play calling changed.  Frye got 3 balanced/run heavy games called and Anderson got 9 called.  At 1-7 in a pass heavy offense, how valuable to the team is Derek Anderson when the game is on his shoulders? 

Something entertaining to think about.  Charlie Frye improved the second half of the season under Jeff Davidson posting a rating of 77.  Derek Anderson regressed the second half of the season posting a rating of 77.  Take a moment to look back above at the records I posted of Frye and Anderson when taking into account the playcalling – now look at their second half ratings.  Kind of eerily similar eh?

Quick, name me Dallas, Green Bay, Indianapolis, New England, Seattle and Jacksonville’s back-up QBs.  Yeah I know, all of you knew Indy’s and Green Bays.  One is a former #1 pick and one crushed our hopes to get in the playoffs.  I know who Jax, and I think New England and Seattle’s back-up but I have no clue who Dallas back-up is.  By the way, all those teams are currently vying for the Super Bowl.  None of them have a QB who could come in and be a viable starter (except maybe Green Bay who drafted their QB to be Brett Favre’s incumbent).  Those teams were all smart enough to sink their dollars into the rest of the team. So what is the job of a back-up QB? On championship caliber teams it’s to hold a clipboard and not play. 

It takes a team to win a championship.  Not two starting QBs.

Let’s now step back and look at the team.  Our biggest off-season acquisition needs to be defensive line.  If Phil Savage tried to argue that fact, he’d be laughed out of the NFL.  The way I see things, another linebacker is needed as well as a future running back and wide receiver.  Though our Browns went 10-6 last year, there’s still a lot of pieces needed to complete the championship puzzle.

This knowledge poses our next question. Do I value Derek Anderson enough to give him starting caliber money in the NFL?  Or, do I value my scouting department and practices and my investment in Brady Quinn?  I traded away a first and second round pick to get Brady Quinn and he’s been stellar in practice (according to reports we’ve heard).  It’s safe to say I believe he’s a starting caliber NFL QB.

Believing this, the worth of Derek Anderson to the team is his return in players/picks to help build a championship team.  Put the restricted free agent tag on him.  Listen to the offers and take the best one.  We’ll go with most on the board (not me) in that most believe Anderson to be worth a 2nd or 3rd round pick.  If we can find a suitor, take the best offer and continue to build the team in the draft.  Use the free agency money to fill in the holes and keep the future bright.  Don’t invest in a player that’s going to be a high priced benchwarmer.  You know damn well if Anderson and his agent feel that he’s a starting quality QB he’s going to demand starter money.  They won’t sign a deal for less.  They’ll take the $2.5 million and run into free agency in a year.  So why not take advantage of this knowledge and use him for trade to invest in players that can help your team get into the Super Bowl? 

As the old saying goes, when you have two quarterbacks you have none.

To answer the overall question of whether or not it is worth it to sign Anderson long term, I’ll break it down into 4 easier questions. Is he qualified? Can we afford him? What’s the alternative? And finally, is Quinn the answer?

Is he qualified?
To answer this question, I'm not going to compare him with other QB's around the league. I'm going to compare him with the best QB's of the salary cap era, all in their first year as the starting QB. Here are the names I'm going to compare him to: Joe Montana, Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Dan Marino, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, John Elway, and Brett Favre. On that list are some of the best QB's to ever play the game. How do their first years as a starter compare to Anderson's?
Completion Percentage: Much has been discussed about DA's completion percentage. He is maligned as an inaccurate QB with a completion percentage of 57%. However Peyton Manning, Troy Aikman, and John Elway all had completion percentages of 57% or less in their first year starting. They all got much better as time passed, there's no reason DA can't.
Yards: Of all those great players, DA comes second in yards, only trailing Dan Marino who had over 5000 yards in his first full year starting. DA beat every other hall of famer on that list when he threw for 3,787 yards this season.
Yards per Attempt: DA's 7.2 yards per attempt this season put him above Tom Brady, Troy Aikman, John Elway, Peyton Manning, and Brett Favre. Very respectable.
Touchdowns: Just like in yardage, DA threw more TD's than every other hall of famer on the list except for Dan Marino, who threw 48 TD's in his first year. I forgot how great Marino was back then. DA's 29 TD's almost tied the Browns single season record. It is truly an astounding achievement.
Interceptions: Anderson falters here, but still manages to beat out the younger versions of Brett Favre and Peyton Manning. Both of them threw more picks in their first year starting than Anderson. They turned out to be pretty OK.
QB Rating: A meaningless stat if you ask me, but nonetheless Anderson beats out half the group of hall of famers, including Elway, Favre, Manning, and Aikman.
So the quick answer to 'Is he qualified' is a resounding YES! His first season starting compares very favorably to the best QB's since the salary cap era began. Anyone who would throw away Anderson based on this season would have also tossed every single QB on that hall of fame list except for Marino. I know what you're wondering; how long was it before each of those players climbed into the starting role? Of the QB's I mentioned, the average is 2.9 years. Only Manning was the starter from day 1, and the longest time was Steve Young, who waited a full 8 years before his first season as starter. Suddenly Derek Anderson's 4 years don't sound so out of line, do they? I’m not saying DA is going into the hall of fame. All I’m saying is that at this point in his career he compares favorably to every hall of fame QB to come out in the last two decades. Are we so eager to toss that away?

Is he affordable?
Absolutely. The Browns currently have the smallest combined QB salary in the NFL. Quinn is making backup money, Dorsey is making 3rd string money. There is no reason we can’t pay Anderson like a real actual first string QB. Of all the teams that could be looking to sign Anderson away from us, we have the most or near the most cap room. Even signing Anderson to a contract similar to Tony Romo’s would leave us plenty of room to sign our draft picks and still make a splash in free agency.

What is the alternative?
Right now the most optimistic trade rumors have us sending Anderson to the Dolphins for their 1st and 3rd rounders, and they pick first overall. At this point we would likely pick Glenn Dorsey and the best player available in the 3rd round, likely either a defensive lineman or a wide receiver. Let's assume for a second that we do this deal and take a look at the financial repercussions. Quinn becomes the starter and would jump his salary from $2 million to about $4 million. Glenn Dorsey will cost $35 million guaranteed. And we'll need to sign a very solid veteran backup QB, who will likely cost about $3 million. We'll ignore the spare change the extra 3rd rounder would cost us. So the total cost of that solution is about $42 million dollars, about 40% of our salary cap for 3 players. What are the costs of keeping Anderson? Let's assume he gets about the same contract as Tony Romo, about $30 million guaranteed. Quinn stays at $2 million per year. That means that we could spend a whopping $10 million dollars on the best defensive tackle in free agency (an NFL proven player) AND retain both our QB's for the same salary that it would cost us to move Anderson and draft at the top of the draft. Given the choice between A) Quinn, aging backup QB, Glenn Dorsey and B) Anderson, Quinn, Albert Haynesworth or Jared Allen I would chose option B in a heartbeat. I will take young players that are proven at the NFL level over hyped draft picks any day of the week. If you picked option A, what happens if Quinn is a bust? What happens if both Quinn AND Glenn Dorsey are busts? You just set this franchise back 10 years. In option B, if Anderson doesn't pan out we still have Quinn and you KNOW that those defensive players I named can do it at the NFL level. Less risk, but the reward is the same or even more. Of course Soup has said on several occasions that he thinks DA is worth no more than a 6th rounder. If he was right (he’s not, but just go with me), what is the point of basically giving him away? Over 60 QB’s took snaps as a starter in the NFL this season. It has never been more important to have a good starter AND a quality backup QB as it is now.

Is Quinn the answer?
Let’s hope so. If Quinn is as good as I thought he was at draft time, we’ll be set for a long time no matter what we do with Anderson. However, we just don’t know what Quinn has yet. His 10 snaps as an NFL QB aren’t enough to say whether he’s Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf. With a franchise FINALLY showing the results of our labor, now is NOT the time to throw out our starting QB just hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. Having Anderson and Quinn both on the team means the best QB will start. If that becomes Quinn at some point, then we trade Anderson for some nice draft picks and move on. But we don’t move Anderson until we’re sure that Quinn is better. Everyone wants to see Quinn play, and I have to admit I was on my feet when he went in the game just like everyone else. There just seems to be a lot of favoritism for him though. If Quinn had thrown 29 TD’s, 18 INT’s, and 3800 yards last year he would have been hailed the next Dan Marino by Browns fans. Anderson does it, and just because he wasn’t a high draft pick or the Notre Dame golden boy we call him inconsistent and we’re ready to move him out. My esteemed opponent Soup may be saying that it’s all about the people surrounding the QB. That line is important, and having those receivers sure doesn’t hurt. But you give Charlie Frye 10 seconds behind that line and he still can’t move the team. Vince Young can’t make those deep passes. Jeff Garcia wouldn’t be able to hit Edwards on the 9 route. As Savage said, Anderson moves this offense.

In closing, we’ve got a situation that is envied around the NFL. There are only about 12 really good QB’s in this league, guys that can pull their teams to victory. We might have two of them. You just can’t get rid of a young QB who is capable of tossing 30 TD’s a season. Teams that did;  like Atlanta with Favre and Tampa with Young, take decades to recover. There’s no reason to rush to an irrational decision until all the facts are known. No reason to trade Anderson until we know exactly what both he and Quinn offer us.