Troy Smith Saga Continues

While Baltimore Ravens backup quarterback Troy Smith is staying mum on the topic, his agent seems happy to keep his name in the news of the day. Smith's agent, Ralph Cindrich, has been quoted as saying that Troy wants to be traded to the Cleveland Browns so bad that he "would crawl from Baltimore right now to play for Cleveland."

Unfortunately, the Browns recent acquisition of former Seattle QB Seneca Wallace for an undisclosed 2011 draft pick all but assures Troy that he will not be "crawling" back to Cleveland any time soon, unless of course, his car runs out of gas and no one stops to give him a ride.

Smith, of course is a Cleveland native and was the Heisman Trophy winner at nearby Ohio State before being drafted by the Ravens in the 5th round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He sat behind Kyle Boller and then was looking to start ahead of rookie Joe Flacco, but that opportunity was derailed when he came down with a rare throat infection that gave Flacco the opportunity that he took and parlayed into what appears to be the future of the franchise.

Smith wants to be a starting quarterback in the NFL but has not really had a chance. A fan favorite of many Ravens fans, he will continue to back up Flacco and get the occasional chance to get into the games as part of the Ravens own "Wildcat" formation. I guess his thought process is that if he has to sit on the bench, he'd prefer to do the same thing in Cleveland than in Baltimore. But as noted above, the trade of Seneca Wallace to Cleveland should signal the end of that happening. At the same time, the Ravens put a 5th round tender on Smith, so if any NFL team wants to sign him to a contract, the Ravens would have a chance to match it or receive that team's 5th round draft pick, which at this point would seem to be fine with the Ravens. Anyone.....? Bueller? Bueller?

See the story in USA Today here.