ESPN.com - Boller given chance to compete for job

ESPN.com: NFL

Thursday, May 8, 2003
Updated: May 13, 1:53 PM ET
Boller given chance to compete for job

By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com

For all the rhetoric surrounding the allegedly rag-tag caliber of NFL quarterback play, the hand-wrenching and teeth-gnashing over the pedigree at the game's most critical position, there are just four of 32 precincts in which the starting job remains unsettled at this juncture of the offseason.

And just one of the pending competitions for the prized perch atop the quarterback depth chart, the Battle of Baltimore, includes a prospect selected in the 2003 draft.

While it may lack the intrigue of what figures to be a heated struggle between Tim Couch and Kelly Holcomb with the Cleveland Browns camp this summer, the brewing Chris Redman-Kyle Boller tete-a-tete , which commences Friday on the first day of a weekend minicamp, is compelling in its own right.

Ravens QB Carousel
Since 1999, when head coach Brian Billick, the Baltimore Ravens have never had the same starting quarterback in consecutive season openers. In 1999, it was Scott Mitchell, followed by Tony Banks (2000), Elvis Grbac (2001) and Chris Redman (2002). In that period, Baltimore has used eight different starters, and here is a look at them:
QB	Yr(s)	Sts
Banks	'99, '00	18
Grbac	'01	14
Blake	'02	10
Dilfer	'00	8
Redman	'02	6
Case	'99	4
Mitchell	'99	2
Cunningham	'01	2

None of the three other franchises that invested first-round choices on quarterbacks just two weeks ago -- Cincinnati (Carson Palmer), Jacksonville (Byron Leftwich), or Chicago (Rex Grossman) -- has even remotely hinted their young signal-callers will compete for a starting job as a rookie. Then again, none of them is confronted by the unique situation in which the Ravens find themselves, with a trio of quarterbacks whose combined resumes total a measly 11 regular-season starts.

In the 2000 draft, the Ravens grabbed Redman as a third-round bargain and anointed him as their quarterback of the future. And then two weeks ago, Baltimore mortgaged a hunk of the future, dealing its 2004 first-round choice to New England for a second No. 1 pick in this year's flesh market, to snatch Boller as the latest "QOF."

Problem is, while the Ravens keep choosing quarterbacks for the future, the present has crept up on them. So when coach Brian Billick and staff commence workouts on Friday, they will do so acknowledging that it behooves them to confront the here-and-now, before their crystal-ball fixation gets them all bounced from their Inner Harbor sanctum.

It wasn't supposed to happen like this, but then again, things that are quarterback-related in Baltimore, at least in the reincarnation of professional football there, rarely follow the prescribed blueprint. At the Super Bowl four months ago, Billick confided to some ESPN reporters that, while he still liked Redman's potential, veteran Jeff Blake, who started the final 10 games in 2002, was his guy.

But, oops, the Ravens low-balled Blake in negotiations, and the peripatetic veteran accepted an offer from the Arizona Cardinals instead. Which leaves the Ravens not only a bit compromised, certainly in terms of experience, but also forced into this Scroogian mode.

Haunted by the ghosts of quarterbacks past. Staffed by passers earmarked for the future. Staring at the pragmatic reality of a young roster that can be competitive now, playing in a division the Ravens can win, but needing a quarterback to step up presently and play the position with at least a passable level of efficiency.

Thus the significance of this weekend's minicamp, where the starting job probably will not be won or lost, but where the first shots will be fired.

For the time being, Redman owns the top spot, but his grasp would never be described as vise-like. The former Louisville standout opened the '02 season as the starter, following two years of apprenticeship, but was sidelined after six games. The herniated disc that elevated the much-traveled Blake to the No. 1 post required January surgery and, while Redman has been throwing pain-free for nearly a month now, prudence certainly will rule this weekend's workouts.

That means the door is more than slightly ajar for Boller, the 19th overall choice on April 26, and the man Ravens coaches sorely wanted. And it means that no one should be too shocked, given the recent history of the franchise and the sudden esteem in which one-year wonder Boller is regarded, if the rookie starts in the Sept. 4 regular-season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"If I could say deep in my heart, 'I think this guy is going to run away with it,' then I would say so," said offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh. "I really think they are both talented guys. But I don't think that, because Kyle is a first-round pick and we haven't had one here, that he's automatically the guy. I think he is certainly going to be the future, but we are talking about the present, and Chris is going to have every opportunity to win the (starting) job."

It should be noted, however, that the Ravens scrambled to land Boller only after their efforts to move up, to take Byron Leftwich, failed in the latest Minnesota Vikings first-round trade snafu. Team officials may parse words, but this was a franchise hell-bent on getting a quarterback with tremendous potential, and which went to great lengths to do so.

General manager Ozzie Newsome favored Leftwich, by a wide margin, and had Boller at about the No. 18-19 spot on his draft board. That the Wizard of Oz deftly maneuvered to get Boller, and at a first-round slot he felt his overall value merited, was admirable. That Newsome acceded to the wishes of the coaches at all, got Billick and Boys a quarterback they coveted, increases the pressure on a staff whose recent history in tutoring the critical position might kindly be described as wretched.

Under the Billick stewardship, four years and counting, the Ravens have trotted out eight different starting quarterbacks. There were three different starters in 1999, including the forgettable Stoney Case, and that set a tone for a slippery slope. None of the quarterbacks has started more than 18 games under Billick, only two started more than 10 contests, and eight started in eight or fewer games.

In defense of Billick (the first and last time you'll see that phrase used by this columnist), who may be insufferable but is not incompetent, he can't be held singularly accountable for the butchery that has been practiced at the position. In addition to incompetence, there has been injury and infirmity, certainly not of his doing. Not was he responsible for the penurious offers to Blake, a guy he would have liked to keep around for another year or so, or for the salary cap mess in which Elvis Grbac left the building.

On the other hand, chalk up these gaffes to Billick, who came to Baltimore with repute for being a quarterback guru: The signing of Scott Mitchell, who lasted all of two games as the starter, in 1999. The trade for scatter-armed tease Tony Banks. The decision to let Trent Dilfer escape, shortly after he managed the Ravens to a Super Bowl title, because he felt Grbac was a more talented player. Ignoring the leaguewide reality that Grbac was a me-first guy, one infamous for destroying locker-room dynamics, a guy who essentially was the anti-Dilfer in terms of team chemistry.

That's why, in the on-field laboratory of this weekend's minicamp, Billick and his staff need to begin getting things right.

A year ago, everyone was saying all the right things about Redman, largely because there was no alternative starter. But once Blake signed, and eventually supplanted the injured Redman, the doubts about the youngster's viability quietly surfaced. And now Redman faces the kind of competition he didn't have to confront last spring.

For any franchise, the decision on a starting quarterback is crucial, but that is especially so for the Ravens organization. Forced into an unparalleled roster purge following the '01 season, mostly because of salary-cap excesses and the desire to defend the Super Bowl XXXV title, Newsome has refurbished the roster in incredibly quick fashion. As both he and Billick promised, the Ravens are a viable playoff contender again, a lot sooner than anyone outside the franchise thought possible.

But this weekend begins the crash course for Ravens quarterbacks. And if it's a crash-and-burn result, the rapid rise from the ashes of salary cap hell will be stalled, and the questions about the quarterback position will grow louder.

Like every team, Ravens officials want to peruse their depth chart and rest their heads on the pillow at night, secure in a belief the quarterback position is addressed for the future. Baltimore management can avoid a lot of restless nights, though, if it comes away from this weekend's minicamp more comfortable with the present.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.