Russell, The Mighty Quinn Both Heart Detroit; Don't Burst Their Bubble Yet

They drafted him, and he all but laughed at them. He threatened to take his baseball glove and try his hand at the national pastime, rather than play football for what he thought was a less-than-formidable operation. The drafters had been losers for five, six years running. His insolence forced their hand, and so he was traded away to the RockyMountains.

John Elway carved himself quite a career with the Denver Broncos, but only after telling the then-Baltimore Colts that he would not be their next Johnny Unitas -- no way, no how.

Eli Manning pulled the same shtick with the San Diego Chargers a few years ago. His infamous look of someone who had been given a bad sweater on Christmas morning, as he held up his Chargers jersey and wore their baseball cap, is still fresh in my mind. He elected to play under the high-kilowatt lights of New York rather than on the laid back beaches of Southern California, just north of Tijuana. Wonder what he thinks of that strategy nowadays.

Brady Quinn and JaMarcus Russell don't appear to be playing the Elway/Eli card. Both of them visited the Lions yesterday -- two quarterbacks who many feel will be the first two signal-callers selected off the board in the NFL Draft a week from Saturday -- and both gushed over the possibilities of being a Detroit Lion, according to Nicholas J. Cotsonika in today's Free Press.

"I'd love to play ball here," Russell, from LSU, said.

"I think it would be a good fit," Quinn, from Notre Dame, said.


Something tells me Quinn looms a little larger to Lions than Russell

So we presume there won't be any Eli Manning-like looks of a condemned man if one of their names is read by Commissioner Roger Goodell as being selected by the Honolulu Blue and Silver. Quinn especially sounded excited about the prospect of being in Detroit, playing under the genius offensive coordinator Mike Martz, with his 500 or so passing plays.

"He's just a great coach," Quinn said of Martz in Cotsonika's story. "He really has a plan, an idea, of really what he wants to do, and you can just tell from speaking with him that it would be a great opportunity for me to be here and work with him."

Did someone channel Dale Carnegie into Quinn's soul?

But hey, it's great that the kid would like to play in Detroit, and that he'd be as happy as a clam. And why give him any dose of reality now? Kind of like smiling at a newlywed couple and telling them that they're in for nothing but milk and honey. They have plenty of time to be disappointed later.

But then again, the college kids usually say all the right things, no matter what NFL city they're visiting. Russell, as a matter of fact, didn't even attempt to hide that fact. When asked what he said to the Oakland people, after giving his plug for Detroit, Russell said, "Same thing."

Don't you feel special, Lions fans?

Call me crazy, but I have a sneaking suspicion it's Quinn the Lions will select, whether they draft at #2 or #4 overall. There's been some scuttlebutt that the Tampa Bay Bucs, with the #4 pick, might be interested in trading with the Lions to move up two notches. Pass rusher Simeon Rice is supposedly part of such a transaction, so say some Florida sources.

I just think there's been a little more attention paid to Quinn by Lions brass than any other candidate. Quinn had dinner with head coach Rod Marinelli on March 22, Cotsonika reports. During the meal (I wonder who paid) Marinelli apparently expressed to Quinn the importance of leadership in a QB.

So JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn think it would be just swell if they played quarterback in Detroit. No John Elway or Eli Manning, they. That's OK -- all we're looking for is another Bobby Layne.

Is that too much to ask?