Watching Ravens quarterback Steve McNair stumble around the field during yesterday's 21-7 loss to the Bengals reminded me of what could've been.
Baltimore director of college scouting Eric DeCosta fell in love with a six-foot-six quarterback named Derek Anderson during workouts leading up to the 2005 East-West Shrine Game. Anderson threw 79 touchdowns at Oregon State, but his 57 interceptions scared off a lot of teams.
In 2003, he set a Pac-10 record with 24 interceptions and his knack for holding the ball too long led to 23 career fumbles. 14 of which resulted in turnovers.
DeCosta was intrigued by how well Anderson threw the ball into the wind during East-West workouts, and the Ravens selected him in the sixth round of the 2005 draft.
Unfortunately, starter Kyle Boller went out with an injury in Week 1 and the Ravens weren't comfortable with the idea of Anderson backing up veteran Anthony Wright.
And here's the part that still makes Ravens fans cringe: The club released Anderson in favor of Kordell Stewart.
Baltimore hoped to sneak Anderson onto the practice squad, but former employee Phil Savage was waiting to snap him up in Cleveland, where he's flourished.
The Ravens are 4-5 with awful quarterback play. I know this is a futile exercise, but you have to think they would be 6-3 with Anderson. The only problem with that theory is that Brian Billick may have stunted his development.
Oh, and here's something for all of you who've been asking how the Browns will handle Anderson's contract.
