Few Options For Beck

The Baltimore Ravens were a team that had supposedly contacted the Phins about the availability of one John Beck.  The Phins, apparently didn’t see or hear enough out of the birds to make a deal or discuss it further.  Instead, the Ravens went on about their business.

Yesterday San Diego released QB Casey Bramlett a familiar face to Cam Cameron who is overseeing the offense for the Ravens.  Bramlett cleared waivers and voilà, the Ravens have another QB on their roster and the Miami Dolphins have one less team calling and very few options for Beck.

The issue for the Ravens stemmed from the very poor performances of rookie Joe Flacco, the tonsillitis issue with starter Troy Smith, and the torn labrum that Kyle Boller suffered.  The team is in desperate need of a veteran QB which of course brings up the question, why beck?  Aside from the fact that Cameron loved the kid enough to draft him last year and even pass on Brady Quinn in round 1, Beck is not essentially a veteran QB ready to lead an NFL team.

So what is Becks’ future?  Well, that question can’t be answered with any degree of assumption.  There is no way to predict the outcome of that issue.  The Dallas Cowboys are said to be interested, but according to Eric Edholm of ProFootballWeekly, who I spoke with on Finsradio.net Tuesday night, the Cowboys are saying that it was Jeff Ireland who was enamored with Beck last year, while Ireland and company are saying it was members of the Dallas staff that are still there.  So it’s a push and shove sort of interest.  Neither willing or likely to move any time soon, and soon is a matter of days with the final 53 cut down looming.

The question will remain what to do with John Beck.  Releasing him will be a monumental blow to last years draft class and will further magnify the recent history of Miami Dolphins drafting.  Trading him for a 5, 6, or even a 7th round draft pick will only make that “monument” less aggravating.  Either way it is turning out to be a huge wasted draft pick. 

While none of this is John Beck’s fault, he was thrown to the wolves last year after Cameron caved to the media and fan requests to get Cleo Lemon off the field and with very little prep time, Beck was for all intent and purposes, slaughtered.  Nor was it his fault that when he finally started to adjust to the system and the NFL, he was yanked for Cleo Lemon.  For that matter, it wasn’t Beck’s fault that he finally started getting reps with the 1st unit on a regular basis only to see the season end and the offensive philosophy and head coach get shoved out the door.

This however is the NFL and as Jerry Glanville once said to a referee, it stands for “Not For Long“.  In the case of John Beck, “NFL” may be this Saturday.