Raiders say ‘Hi’ to Charlie Frye

In the continuing efforts of the Oakland Raiders to acquire every quarterback who has played both in the Mid-American Conference and for the Cleveland Browns, Charlie Frye was added to the roster today.

Frye’s name was the newest to pop up on the Oakland Raiders transaction page. The former Akron Zip joins former Toldeo Rocket Bruce Gradkowski in competition for the role of emergency/third string signal caller. Frye and “The Big” Gradkowski both played for the Browns prior to their Oakland arrivals.

David White of the San Francisco Chronicle believes that this all but assures Andrew Walter of a one-way ticket out of the East Bay.

Walter skipped all things voluntary this offseason, from the quarterbacks school to ongoing OTAs. When he showed for the mandatory minicamp, the coaching staff all but benched him behind JaMarcus Russell, Jeff Garcia and Bruce Gradkowski.

Garcia is here to be Russell’s backup, that much coach Tom Cable has established. Frye’s addition is aimed toward getting the No. 3 quarterback they want.

Frye’s claim to fame is a dubious one. Back in 2007 he beat out first round pick Brady Quinn and backup Derek Anderson for the starting job in Cleveland only to be benched and then traded to the Seattle Seahawks after the first week of the season.

A third round pick in the 2005 draft, Frye started 13 games for the Browns in 2006 but has started just twice for the Seahawks since his 2007 trade.   

As it stands now, JaMarcus Russell is still the starter and Jeff Garcia is still the backup. That is unless the Raiders get really aggressive and go after the most successful quarterback to ever come out of the MAC – Ben Roethlisberger.