Brady Quinn says Baltimore Ravens almost drafted him in 2007
By Josh Hill
The world of sports is also a world of endless ‘what-if’ scenarios that are likely playing out in some parallel universe where Michael Jordan plays for the Blazers, Bill Buckner never missed that ground ball and the Buffalo Bills were the Dynasty of the late 80s and early 90s.
One other ‘what-if’ scenario has Brady Quinn possibly becoming the franchise quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens in 2007. With the NFL Draft just days away, NFL Network sat down with Brady Quinn to discuss his infamous draft day slide where he revealed the Ravens nearly drafted him.
"“During that pick, I was on the phone with the Baltimore Ravens the entire time. So, I was talking to (general manager) Ozzie Newsome, coach (Brian) Billick and coach (Rick) Neuheisel because I hadn’t interviewed with them, hadn’t worked out for them or anything.”"
The Cleveland Browns then traded back into the first-round and took Quinn 22nd overall but had they not done that there is a chance he could have slid to 29th overall and the Ravens pick. Baltimore ended up taking Ben Grubbs — a solid pick — and another quarterback wasn’t taken until the Philadelphia Eagles drafted Kevin Kolb 36th overall.
It’s hard to say if Quinn would have flourished in a different system with different coaches, although the staff that wanted Quinn was fired after 2007 and both John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco were brought in the following year to great success.