More Browns Backup QB Goodness - Thad Lewis from Ebay

Right before I found the Jarrett Brown auto from my last post, I was able to purchase a Thaddeus Lewis auto very cheap on Ebay as well.  I'll get to the awesome card, but first I wanted to show off how the seller packaged it - by surrounding it with older base (yay!):

I love when sellers use cards as cardboard.  The Andre Dawson easily takes the cake here, but Tim Flannery also stands out as a former favorite of the blog Padrographs.  Good stuff.

But let's get to that auto - it's a real beaut:

This one here is the Mirror Gold edition of Lewis' Leaf Certified auto.  As is typical, Leaf numbered this to just 25 copies, as you can see on the back:

A gorgeous card for sure, and a huge get for my collection, especially at like $2 shipped.  Guess that's why it pays to collect backups and never weres!

So why do I collect Thaddeus Lewis?  Well like Jarrett Brown, he's got the backup QB/past competition with Seneca Wallace thing going.  Differently, he actually won a competition with Seneca Wallace, ending up one of four quarterbacks who saw game action for the 2012 squad.  Brandon Weeden started the first 15 games of the year, but when he was hurt in Week 17 and nothing counted, the Browns turned to "The Champ" (his actual nickname - too cool!) to battle the Steelers.  And while Thad did not win out that day, he showed enough ability to finish with a QB rating of 83.3, which actually bested Weeden's season mark.  Very impressive.

In typical Browns fashion, they still let him go, and the next season Lewis was in Buffalo backing up E.J. Manuel.  He ended up getting 5 starts in Buffalo (he went 2-3) with 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.  The rest of the numbers weren't pretty, but Lewis still seemed the better QB given he had a better completion %, more yards per attempt, more yards per completion, and fewer interceptions per pass than Manuel.  But Buffalo, like Cleveland, let him go as well.

Last season Lewis sat on the free agency wire with Seneca Wallace, but when the Texans were decimated by QB injuries, they picked Lewis up.  He proceeded to play in 6 games but accumulate no stats, and once again, a team let him go.

But now, and very excitedly for me, Lewis' career has come full circle.  The Browns, with Johnny Football on the mend, Connor Shaw unproven, and Josh McCown fluky, signed Lewis in the offseason to join their QB ranks.  There's now a very good chance he sticks around as backup QB and, if that happens, and even better chance he sees some playing time behind McCown.  So part of my desire to collect Lewis is to once again have a scrappy backup QB to actively root for every Sunday like I used to with Seneca Wallace.  Hopefully Lewis plays well enough that he earns it and, if he does, may he never let go of that starter's spot!