Originally published November 1, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified November 1, 2007 at 2:01 AM
Bittersweet homecoming for Hawks QB
Twenty-two minutes, 8 seconds. That's all the time Charlie Frye got in the Browns pocket this season. Seven possessions, 10 pass attempts...
Seattle Times staff reporter
Sunday
Seattle @ Cleveland,
1 p.m., Ch. 13
Twenty-two minutes, 8 seconds. That's all the time Charlie Frye got in the Browns pocket this season.
Seven possessions, 10 pass attempts and then a hook halfway through the second quarter of the first game. Sitcoms last longer than Frye's final start for his hometown team.
"I decided in those 20 minutes that we weren't playing well enough," coach Romeo Crennel said. "And I felt like the team needed a change."
The Browns turned to Derek Anderson and Frye was gone. Not just on the bench. Gone. The Browns didn't put him in the recycling bin. They set him out on the curb and traded him three time zones away from the only state he ever called home for a sixth-round draft pick from Seattle.
"Any change like that is hard," Frye said. "It would be hard for anybody. [But] this is the NFL and the way free agency and trades work nowadays, nothing surprises you."
Still, this was unprecedented, the only time since the 1970 merger that an NFL team traded its opening-day starter at quarterback before the second game.
And now Frye is in Seattle, a third-string quarterback with the two suitcases of clothing he brought with him while the man who replaced him ranks second in the NFL in touchdown passes.
That makes Sunday's game a little awkward. Frye is going back to Cleveland with the Seahawks, returning to the stadium where he took so many lumps the past two years. He'll hold a clipboard for Seattle while Anderson stands behind an offensive line that stands stronger than it ever did in front of Frye.
It would be silly to imply the Browns made a mistake. They're on pace to set a franchise record for points. But there's something a little coldhearted about the whole story. Frye grew up in Ohio, went to Akron and played his way into being drafted by the team he cheered for as a kid. He absorbed all sorts of punishment trying to stand tall in the Browns pocket the past two seasons and is now a third-string quarterback across the country while his former team is tasting success.
Frye still owns a house in Cleveland, but this isn't really a homecoming. No one has asked for tickets, he said. He's not playing.
"Going back there a week or two after it happened, it would have been real weird for me," Frye said. "But I've kind of settled in out here."
The Steelers sacked Frye five times in that first game, but the trade two days later was the hit the quarterback never saw coming.
"I don't think anybody realized that rope was going to be that short," he said. "But that's the way it went down."
Able to bounce back
Frye wore a Superman T-shirt beneath his jersey in college at Akron, and that's just how he played.
"He would have played defense if we had let him," said Lee Owens, Frye's college coach.
Frye owed his football career to an ability to rebound from big licks. His high-school team at Willard went 3-7 his junior season, then won 10 games his senior year and reached the third round of the playoffs.
His coach was knocked out of play-calling duties for about three series one game Frye's senior season, suffering a knee injury after a player was blocked into him. Frye called the plays the next three possessions.
"I should have been fired because we scored three touchdowns," joked Chris Hawkins, Frye's high-school coach.
Schools like Iowa State came calling after Frye's senior success, but a sense of commitment was woven deep into Frye's makeup. He stood by Akron.
"He was a real loyal person," Owens said.
Owens was with Frye on draft night when the Browns chose him in the third round.
"It was like a dream," Owens said.
Well, not everything. Frye became the starter the end of his rookie season and won two games, but Cleveland's offensive line functioned more like a turnstile than a wall last year. The Browns gave up 56 sacks and the offense didn't roll so much as it skidded down the street. Only the Raiders gained fewer yards.
The Browns hired a new offensive coordinator in the offseason — their third in Frye's three seasons. They drafted Brady Quinn in the first round this season, but he held out and Crennel held a competition between Anderson and Frye.
"I tried to be as fair as I could about giving them both the opportunity to show what they could do," Crennel said.
He flipped a coin to decide who would start the first exhibition game.
The Browns had a new offensive coordinator and a newfound stiffness along the offensive line with Eric Steinbach and No. 3 overall pick Joe Thomas.
Eventually, Frye was named the starter for the season opener. That lasted 22:08.
No "ill feelings"
Two hours. That's how long Frye got that Tuesday after learning the Browns traded him to Seattle. Two hours to get to the airport for the afternoon flight.
"Just throw as much stuff as I could in a bag and get out here and get to practice," Frye said.
His phone rang at the airport. Safety Brian Russell was on the other end. They were teammates in Cleveland the past two years. Russell's wife heard about the trade on the radio.
"I thought this could be a blessing in disguise for him," Russell said. "At the time he was frustrated. He had just been the starting quarterback for that team, but I think he realizes now that it's a great environment for him to learn and improve.
"It's going to be a long career for Charlie."
A player doesn't get from Akron to the NFL without knowing how to shake off a big hit. How Frye bounces back from this one will determine whether this is a speed bump in his career or an offramp.
"I don't hold any ill feelings," Frye said.
He has a chance to learn the offense of Mike Holmgren, a coach known for his work with quarterbacks. It's a fresh start for a 26-year-old quarterback with 19 NFL starts.
"I'm finally away from the hometown a little bit," he said. "Just to focus really on football. You don't have the people asking you for tickets every week and everybody pulling you one way or another every day."
Twenty-two minutes decided Frye's season in Cleveland, not necessarily the rest of his career. He's not a starter anymore. He's not even a backup. But he's here in Seattle, with plenty of room to grow and some distance from all that history back in Ohio.
Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Shaun Alexander taking "tour for Jesus" and hoping for NFL comeback
NFL | Steve McNair's case ruled murder, suicide
UPDATE - 10:39 PM
Ex-Seahawks star Alexander hoping for another chance
NFL commissioner Goodell climbs Mount Rainier
Hawks' Owen Schmitt pleads not guilty to DUI

Gen. David Petraeus: Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
Watch highlights of General David Petraeus discussing the Iraq and Afghanistan War at the Global Leadership Series sponsored by the World Affairs Council.
Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech
nwjobs


Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
What not to wear to work this summer
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new SUV? Weigh the impact your choice will have on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
nwhomes

Find a new home or condo that fits your lifestyle.
Search New Developments
Builder Directory
- Seattle-area homebuilder losing projects to foreclosure
- Health-plan costs soar for individuals
- Cocoa plant where worked died didn't have license
- Trees vs. houses: Narrow, leafy street is last chance for two Madrona homes waiting to be moved
- World's largest solar plant may be built in Cle Elum
- Chase won't pay for Seattle's Lake Union fireworks next year
- The end of the light-line line, for now: Tukwila's "Taj Mahal" station
- Lawmaker says CIA director ended secret program
- Mariners Blog | Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik again declines to quell Yuniesky Betancourt trade rumors
- Driver killed, deputy and prisoner injured in head-on crash near Monroe
- Health-plan costs soar for individuals
577 - Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners: 07/09 game thread
243 - Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik again declines to quell Yuniesky Betancourt trade rumors
183 - Chase won't pay for next year's Lake Union fireworks
173 - World's largest solar plant may be built in Cle Elum
129 - Deals involving Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, Pirates second baseman Freddy Sanchez not automatically related
104 - The end of the line, for now: Tukwila is the jewel in the crown of Link
82 - Franklin Gutierrez bails Mariners out in a 3-1 win
77 - Chase will longer sponsor Lake Union fireworks
57 - Group hopes to build 75-megawatt solar park near Cle Elum
52
- Seattle-area homebuilder losing projects to foreclosure
- World's largest solar plant may be built in Cle Elum
- Health-plan costs soar for individuals
- Group hopes to build 75-megawatt solar park near Cle Elum
- Cocoa plant where worked died didn't have license
- Grab the kids and hop on Amtrak for a stress-free getaway to Portland
- Trees vs. houses: Narrow, leafy street is last chance for two Madrona homes waiting to be moved
- During financial crisis, the business of college sports is complicated by Title IX
- Local Smith & Hawken garden stores to close
- Lavender tour on Vashon Island leads round of festivals








