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Despite holdout, Quinn still hard at work
Jay Glazer

TEMPE, Ariz. - Cleveland Brown rookie quarterback Brady Quinn was dripping with sweat, having just finished the first of two-a-day practices and now preparing to throw to one of a handful of his new favorite targets.

Quinn began firing bullets to a receiver about 30 yards away, but it wasn't to any of the Browns receivers. There were no barks from the Dawg Pound faithful that shower the Browns with love. There was no Romeo Crennel. Instead, Quinn turned to a certain FOX reporter and proclaimed, "I know there's a business side to this game. The process takes its toll on you but it's the one thing in my life that's guaranteed so I have to make the most of it. It's just part of the business."

The business side of football has led Quinn to hold two-a-days and two throwing sessions per day not in Cleveland with the rest of his teammates but rather in oh-so-hot Tempe, Arizona at uber-training facility Athletes Performance Institute (API). It's a getaway of sorts for pro athletes. But instead of spa treatments and zen baths, there are cold tubs and screams of grueling workouts in the hottest portion of the U.S.

Due to his contract negotiations, while the Browns were holding their own two-a-days in Berea, Ohio, Quinn thrust himself into the API regiment with a Who's Who of NFL players and, yes, even a lowly NFL Insider. He will stay there until his rookie deal is done and he can report to training camp.

"Everything is so structured here and so scheduled, I wanted to put myself in the same scenarios as the guys doing two-a-days back in Ohio," Brady said. "Plus, I wanted a place where the conditions would be worse than camp, working out hard in extreme conditions. I know I was criticized a lot after the minicamps and the draft and I've used that as motivation. It all piles up on you and I'm using that to motivate myself out here to prove them wrong."

Quinn has found the right place. Running and lifting twice a day in 115-117-degree weather in the desert, then throwing to a handful of temporary football targets is a good start to erasing the criticism. Oh, and those receivers? How about Bucs RB and former NFL Rookie of the Year Cadillac Williams, Dolphins stud back Ronnie Brown, USC star Dwayne Jarrett and Eagles receiver Jeremy Bloom to name a few.

For most of July, Quinn was but one face at a compound that replaced summer vacations for many of the NFL's elite. On one particular afternoon, API's trainer Luke Richesson was barking instructions to a group of NFLers that included Quinn, Brown, Williams and Bloom as well as Bengals tackle Levi Jones, Steelers tackle Max Starks, Bucs rising star TE Alex Smith, Dolphins LT L.J. Shelton, Eagles corner Will James, Jarrett, Panthers corner Derrick Strait, Saints FB Mike Carney, Bengals CB Rashad Bouman and Redskins CB Carlos Rogers. That doesn't include Brett Favre and Falcons CB DeAngelo Hall who fly a trainer from API to their home to prepare their bodies for a new NFL campaign.

Many players around the NFL choose to spend July vacationing in Europe or in the Caribbean. Others spend July running trouble with their boys back home. This group? They decided instead to start their two-a-day hell a month early.

"I've decided to look at this like my vacation," said Quinn.

"When you have a season (like the Bucs had) and go four and twelve and five and eleven, you tend to be more motivated," said Cadillac Williams. "Me personally I have a nasty taste in my mouth so I actually wanted to get a head start on guys where once I get to training camp, I hit the ground running. I felt like coming to API would be the best place for me."

Most players arrived in early July and left last week to attend their respective teams' training camps. But while at API, this handful of NFL stars dropped their rivalries and competitive nature toward each other and instead acted like they suddenly signed up on the same squad. On a daily basis you could see them push each other through speed drills, intense conditioning drills, heavy lifting sessions and agility and power field work that rivals any training camp workout. They sweat together to improve when they're apart.

"One of the things we do here and I think we do it as good if not better than anyone in the country is we can assess an issue, fix the problem, and make someone a better athlete," said Richesson, a long-time strength coach. "Where you can't underestimate where you need to work on is the head and the heart. And I want to make sure that when our guys go to camp they understand that they have put in a tremendous amount of work and that they are fighting for a job and fighting for respect and fighting to make a name for himself. So I always want them to reflect back on the blood, sweat and tears that they've put in here so that when they step on the field it's go time."

This is not just a gym with a trainer. API becomes a lifestyle for these athletes. These players fly to Tempe and stay at a local Country Suites or Residence Inn for the month, check their ego and stats at the door, and usually spend from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week letting Richesson beat the crap out of them.

A typical day for Quinn includes a 90-minute workout that includes movement with a weighted medicine ball, then a resistance harness for speed and power before a long lifting and core session. The lifting sessions are different, always focusing on building core strength, even while working on body parts that seem like they have little relation to the core midsection.

"For me as a quarterback, when you're standing in the pocket, you can't stand and not be very balanced and stable," said Quinn. "So by understanding how to use your core, your stomach, your glutes, your upper body shoulders and everything, you understand how to stand more stiff and (a) little more rigid in the pocket so you're not such an easy sack per se."

There are short-burst drills, drills to enhance goal-line production, drills for exploding through blockers or defenders, drills standing, explosion drills from the ground and drills to, well, pretty much drive a man into the ground to test the spirit — all under the extreme sun of the Arizona desert.

"I definitely think coming here gives you a psychological edge because you come out here and know that you've been through a lot," said Starks, who came to API weighing close to 390 pounds and left weighing a stunning 40-something pounds lighter. "You've been put through the worst things, so coming into a game where you might be doubting yourself, or in practice it might be the fourth time you have to run a sprint or a drill and you're sitting there like, wait a second, I've been through worse then this. There's nothing worse that I can go through, so this is easy."

After that initial workout, Quinn and the group are ordered by Richesson to soak in the cold tub to prevent lactic acid buildup in muscles for the afternoon workout. API also cooks the players three meals a day, many based upon a breakdown from an on-staff nutritional department.

After lunch, Quinn spends another half hour to hour throwing passes to any receiver willing to help the quarterback erase the concerns raised about his accuracy.

In the afternoon session, Richesson has the group work on core once again, but uses this time to attack the weights much more aggressively than the morning workout. Rather than sitting pool-side sipping Mai Tais like many of their NFL brethren, this group is guzzling water in between grunting and screaming through 90 minutes of intense weights. This isn't your normal weight routine either. For example, Saints fullback Mike Carney, to work on bursting out of his three-point stance to attack a linebacker, flips a monster truck tire back and forth across the field. In between sets, he'll do another exercise to keep his muscles firing. Then, he'll top it off by pushing a 200-pound wooden sled with a 200-pound man standing atop and do 10-yard sprints pushing this 400-pound combo.

"Everyone here does grunt work," said the Saints' hard-nosed fullback Carney. "It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done, this is grunt work and we're all in the same boat. We're all getting put through the same thing and you can't get through it if you go into it with any ego. This is the type of stuff that gets you better, the type of grunt work you're supposed to do."

Other days the group may have to do five different lifting exercises with no rest between sets. Some days it's heavy, heavy lifts leading up to a huge rest period in between sets. Richesson changes up the lifting as the week progresses, from holding weights in mid-lift for 45 seconds before banging out extremely slow reps for power, to handling light weights as fast as they can for speed.

Having experienced the workouts myself for the past five weeks with the group, perhaps the most impressive aspect is the fact that nobody ever seems to burn out. Players who try to tear each other apart on Sunday in autumn instead push each other like brothers and rip on each other like this is the only locker room they'll ever be in. Rather than lumber through the monotony of NFL practices, guys actually show up early for their workouts at API.

Chiefs tackle Kyle Turley introduced me to API and went on to use their training to put 35 pounds of muscle back onto his frame to become a 300-pounder again.

The NFL isn't the only group to fill these halls. NHL stars like Nikolai Khabibulin have used the program, as well as pitcher Curt Schilling and a handful of hockey and baseball stars. API had 10 first-rounders in this year's NFL draft go through their doors and sports stars from foreign lands even flock through the gates of Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport to train with the elite. All come for the same purpose. All come to find that edge, the extra step that others lack.

"Working out is another way to get away from everything," said Washington's Rogers. "If I'm in Atlanta and DC, I may want to go out and you tend to lose focus. I think once you get here, being around all the guys and the coaches even though they are working you, you still have fun. You might be lazy and don't want to get out the bed, but once you get here, it's fun so you get your job done."

Quinn is finishing up his second Richesson workout of the day and will stay for one more throwing session before getting a crack from an on-staff chiropractor and maybe some preventive treatment.

If he fails to sign with the Browns, he'll be right back by Richesson's side tomorrow waiting for life to get easier, waiting to go to the much cooler confines of Cleveland.

"I really wish I was out there with my team but like I said earlier, I know there's a business side to this," said Quinn. "I try to leave my cell phone in my locker here and not lose focus so when I finally get that deal done, I'm ready to step right in without missing a beat.

"I'm putting myself through this for a reason. Believe me, it's not fun. But if I want to excel in something, I want to take that extra step and find that extreme measure."

For this rookie and his newfound vet friends, API is about as extreme as it gets. Their off-season ended long before camps began.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7071940

Crapola - does his agent work for him or not?
It's a cop out as far as I'm concefned
He went 22nd for crying out loaud that's not a hold-out spot in my book
Well BQ can sit on the bench. Should be fined for not reporting on time.
I hate hold outs

I think he should be told he won't play period if he's not in camp by Weds

Nice article - hope Quinn is also studying his play book.

Good Article. Thanks for sharing. Glad to see he's going to have to work hard to catch up and it's also nice to know we got guys like him and LeCharles who want to play for the Cleveland Browns. I hope Brady doesn't wear himself down too much so he won't be able to handle the rigor of training when he does sign this week sometime once Condon and Savage have come to a common ground. JMHO

WOW...I wanna work out there.

I'm frustrated that he's not in here yet but I can guarantee our QB's in camp right now haven't gone through the stuff that Quinn's going through right now.

I REALLY like his commitment to detail in his workout plan, nutrition and body. If he applies that same mentality to the mental aspect of the game there's no reason he shouldn't succeed in the NFL.

I think message board people should stop giving him a hard time. He's just trying to make some $, it is a business afterall, teams cut players without thinking twice and giving them any money, it works both ways. It's not like Quinn was gonna start week 1 anyways, Frye will start until we are eliminated from the postseaon contension.

You are a 22nd pick Quinn! Gimme a break. YOU are NOT a top ten pick PERIOD. Get in camp and EARN your money!!!!!!

This thread is about Quinn busting his butt off.

and also about "The Business" side of things.

Thanks for posting.

I'm not concerned about the workout part of his life - I'm concerned with (a) learning the playbook and (b) throwing the ball. Seemed like the focus of the article was based on workouts and not the smarts or throwing, the two most important things for a QB IMHO.

Plus who's to say that this camp is harder than the browns camp? Who wrote this article.........his agent? Glad to see he is working out, but honestly I was never worried about his conditioning or him being in shape. I worry about him learning the playbook, and accuracy issues.

I'm glad he isn't just sitting on his ass at home. If he isn't in camp then this is the next best thing. Hopefully the holdout doesn't last much longer and he can start learning the offense so he doesn't have trouble when the season starts. The last thing you want is a guy that doesn't know the offense holding the clip board.

you're right... he's probably in tempe eating bon-bons....

and really - you think if he would have been at camp on time you think he'd be starting from day 1?? Best case for him is he gets in half way through the season... personally I see him sitting all season. He'll get in soon...

Not saying I don't want him in camp either - but you made it look like he was sunbathing or some crap...

What the hell is a bon-bon? I want one.

I made it look like he was sunbathing? Hehe... You're something else. Question whether I even read the article and then post even more garbage afterwards.

Coach B has entered the thread.

Teen angst at its finest.

Just kidding.

Business blah blah blah.

How hard is it to say to your agent, "Get me the best deal you possibly can before camp starts. Whatever is on the table the night before camp is the one I'm signing. If you can't do it, you're fired."

Seriously, how hard is that? you're arguing over 2% of the contract, or an incentive, or some rights to a local toyota commercial. I don't buy the business crap. He's the boss, not his agent.

You guys are ridiculous. Getting riled up over something we knew would happen.

He is working hard, nuff said. Who cares until we see it on the field. It's not like he would start anyway.

Glad someone has some since on here...

I'm interested to hear what Diam thinks of Quinn out in Tempe... but I'm guessing he'd say the same thing you just did.

Many fans and media alike are saying this is the dumbest "holdout" they have ever seen. I want Charlie to start anyway for now so I don't expect him to start all year if Charlie stays healthy and does well. All that aside, Brady should get his butt to training camp with the rest of his teammates. This is all over him and his agent saying that we gave up next years first and this years second to get him so he is worth more money and not the 22nd pick money. I really could care less but I just believe he should be in camp. I know that the Browns are not "robbing" him from the money he deserves to get and I'm sure he was offered a fair deal from where he was picked. Heck, maybe the Browns don't want any QB controversey so they aren't in any hurry to sign him, just kidding! I dunno....I hope he signs so I can stop hearing about it.

I believe in Frye's presser today he mentioned API in Arizona as his work out place with McNabb - but the gym might of been different cause he said they did a lot of Boxing (no sparring) workouts and then they would go to API camp to do football stuff with the rubber bands and things.

Hope BQ doesn't think he can miss camp and waltz in as long as he is in shape. He's missing the entire Offense. I hear it gets put in the first 10 days...then thats it for learning and he basically misses his opportunity to learn the offense. Surely he can't think he can run the offense on his own???

Just sign the Damn thing at 22 its pretty Black n White.

JMHO

Let him sit. There aren't too many times you get to negotiate a contract and you better get it right the first time. So, I can't blame the kid there. Regardless of that, I'm a Charlie Frye fan myself and I'm loving every minute of the hold out. The more he holds out, the more likely it is Frye will be the starting QB vs. the Steelers.

Raleigh

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I'm frustrated that he's not in here yet but I can guarantee our QB's in camp right now haven't gone through the stuff that Quinn's going through right now

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Actually, that's not exactly correct Ammo... Charlie Frye was down there working out with Donovan McNabb and several other guys recently,,, so you are a little off assuming none of the other QB's in camp right now have experienced the same thing that Quinn is dealing with now.,

As for this article, well, it's nice and all, and yeah, we all understand that there is a very very real business side to this that has to be addressed..

But if Quinn really wants to be the starter sooner rather than later, then he has to take charge and get his agent to move things along.. Tell Condon to get to the table with Savage and don't get up until the deal is done



JMO however....

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Quinn has found the right place. Running and lifting twice a day in 115-117-degree weather in the desert, then throwing to a handful of temporary football targets is a good start to erasing the criticism. Oh, and those receivers? How about Bucs RB and former NFL Rookie of the Year Cadillac Williams, Dolphins stud back Ronnie Brown, USC star Dwayne Jarrett and Eagles receiver Jeremy Bloom to name a few.

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Well, those recievers are probably all in camp now. So who is he throwing to?

There is no replacement for training camp, period. So he is in great shape, I'm happy for him. He is not learning our offense, even if Ammo thinks he is.

Come on Ammo, do you really think API has the Browns playbook?

...........and with Chud

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What he's really missing out on is timing everything up with his receivers.

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And having any reasonable idea of where they are supposed to be. If you could learn all that from the playbook they wouldn't have to "install" the offense.

He just needs to get in.

I want him camp .. he needs to be there ... there is NO SUBSTITUTE for camp ... but if hes not gonna be in camp I'm glad hes not chillin and is working .. but thats what i EXPECTED from him ..

and i have had the same stance on rookie holdouts from Day1 and I feel the same about BQ's ... I dont like them but I 100% COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THEM .... i have NO CLUE who is to blame and NEITHER DOES ANYONE ELSE on this board or in the MEDIA ...

as with EVERY OTHER ROOKIE we've ever had hold out i will sit and wait and be happy when they sign and not pretend I;m privy to the negotations and point fingers at either side ..

Living here in the Valley of the Sun I view the article as the standard bull about the player "working out". I've heard it enough times about Cardinals holdouts. These teams wouldn't be spending all this dough on training camps if "working out" amounted to any formula for success. Quinn's pat answer has been he is aware of the business side. Hopefully he's aware there are two sides - one other than whatever his agent is feeding him.