BEREA, Ohio -- Brady Quinn fell in the NFL draft. Now he's falling out of favor with the Cleveland Browns.
The rookie quarterback's contract holdout dragged into its second week Friday as Quinn missed his eighth day of training camp with no end in sight. For now, he's in Arizona working out while negotiations continue.
Meanwhile, Browns general manager Phil Savage expressed disappointment at not being able to finalize a deal with agent Tom Condon. Savage said he "talked briefly" with Quinn's representatives on Friday, but didn't seem optimistic about a contract being completed anytime soon.
Quinn had been projected as a Top 10 pick, but when he slipped deeper into the first round, the Browns traded a 2008 first-round pick to Dallas and selected the former Notre Dame quarterback at No. 22.
The Browns don't think Quinn should be paid more money than the 22nd pick deserves. Their argument is that Quinn was taken where he was for a reason and that they shouldn't have to pay a premium for him.
"If you're not going to rank the players one through 22, or one through 32, then there's no reason to have a draft," Savage said. "We should just have free agency for college players. The draft is the structure that was set up so that there would be some order to it.
"Fifty years from now when they look into the history books of the Cleveland Browns, it is going to say, Brady Quinn, 22nd pick of the first round."
Savage was asked if he was frustrated.
"This isn't about fireworks," he said. "It's about facts."
Condon and the Browns are hung up over increases in the fourth and fifth years of a potential deal as well as play-time incentives.
Savage feels the Browns have made several fair proposals since May, and it's time for Condon to make some concessions.
"We have some flexibility," he said. "We've got to have some flexibility from the other side to get a deal done. It's to try to meet somewhere in the middle, where both parties can agree - to sometimes disagree - but get it done. That's where we are."
Savage pointed to the Browns' track record over his 2½ years as GM. The club has extended contracts, signed free agents and the Browns gave offensive tackle Joe Thomas - the No. 3 overall pick - more guaranteed money ($23 million) than any other rookie offensive lineman in NFL history.
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Savage said the club also "bent" in talks to sign rookie cornerback Eric Wright in time for the start of camp.
"It makes no sense whatsoever," Savage said, "that all of the sudden, when we pick a quarterback in the first round at the 22nd spot, that we would all of the sudden change gears and say this is the face of the franchise potentially, this is our No. 1 quarterback for the future and now we're going to slap him around with a lowball contract.
"It is totally illogical and that's not what we've done, nor will we."
Condon could not be reached for comment.
Quinn was expected to compete with Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson for Cleveland's starting job. However, head coach Romeo Crennel, who has coldly referred to Quinn as "the quarterback" and not by name during the holdout, has indicated the competition is a two-man race between Frye and Anderson.
"He's pretty far behind," Crennel said. "We have a lot of offense and we're putting it in every day. It takes awhile to get this down and get caught up on it."
Quinn also missed the team's four-day rookie orientation program before camp opened.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
