You might think that I’m telling you that Brady Quinn is the 2009 Cleveland Browns starter because of yesterday’s Cleveland Plain DealerReport from Tony Grossi’s blog, right? Think again. Tony Grossi is a clown who knows little and does a good job speculating in an attempt to sell newspapers. In case you didn’t read it, here was the meat and potatoes of the entry:

I offer up this tidbit for the enjoyment of those who find the ongoing debate on the Browns quarterback situation to be insatiable.

I recently spoke with someone I will identify as a league source. This person does not work for an NFL team but works with NFL teams and has a prominent name.

I asked, “Whom do you think will wind up starting at quarterback for the Browns?”

Without hesitation, the answer was, “Brady Quinn.”

The person went on to say that the Browns had two “very subtantial” trade offers for Quinn — each involved a No. 1 draft pick — and declined to trade him.

The source would not speculate on whether a trade of Quinn might have been blocked by owner Randy Lerner. The source believes that there will be a true “open competition” between Quinn and Derek Anderson and that Quinn will prevail.

Definitely not bad news for those in favor of Brady Quinn getting the shot he deserved yesterday. But there is more to our theory of the Browns starting Quarterback job already being Brady Quinn’s to lose then a simple quote from a guy who contradicts himself weekly like Tony Grossi. Cold, hard evidence exists. It just may need sifted and dusted off to be uncovered.

Notice that the article in the Plain Dealer mentions Browns Owner Randy Lerner. This article touches on a very good point by mentioning Mr. Lerner. For those that don’t know a lot about the Cleveland Browns, Mr. Lerner–while being a  hands off approach owner–is also a very smart businessman. He did not achieve a net worth of $1.5 billion dollars by making poor business decisions. This is a a very smart man who understands the importance of making good business decisions. He also serves on the National Football League’s Business Ventures Committee.

Mr. Lerner’s two jobs are to put a winning product on the field and to make money. You can argue all day of which are more important to him, but it’s a moot point in this context. If he could kill two birds with one stone, don’t you think he’d do it? Especially if he thought the decision was those two big birds: 1) making money; and 2) putting a winner on the field?

Here’s where Brady Quinn enters the picture. I’ve long heard from the inside and in speculation that the owner is very high on Brady Quinn. In fact, last season when Quinn finally got his start against the Denver Broncos; the call was mandated by the owner himself. When the Browns fired Phil Savage and then days later Romeo Crennel; it was the owner who sent out Brady Quinn and Joe Thomas to talk to the media. There we were, a coachless and GM-less franchise. The owner understood the importance then of sending out the faces of the franchise (who he perceived them as) to give the media a fireside chat. To let everyone know everything was going to be alright.

People who don’t like Brady Quinn and his talents hate hearing this; but from a marketing perspective the guy offers a ton to an organization. He was born to be the face of a franchise. Go to Cleveland Browns Stadium on a sunday. You’ll see thousands of Brown #10 jerseys. Quinn went to Notre Dame. He says the right things and dresses like a professional in press conferences. He is a smart, hard-working kid. If you’re running a company and you had a person who did the things Quinn has done in your building; wouldn’t you think he deserved a promotion after a long time of proving he was worthy of it? Randy Lerner happens to own this company, and he’s about to make sure that Brady Quinn gets that promotion.

Randy Lerner isn’t going to let Brady Quinn get out of town without getting a good long look at if this kid could be a big return on a big investment made by the owner himself. Why did we ever doubt it? There are dollar signs all over Quinn if he booms. The way he works, there’s no reason to think he won’t in this league. Sometimes the answers we wish and search so hard for are right under our noses. Just remember what they say: the NFL today is a business. Quinn is your starter come September.