Last year Cleveland went to battle with Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson and Brett Ratliff at quarterback. Anderson, in his fifth year with the Browns, had the most experience of the three. He played pretty well for most of 2007, finishing his “breakout” season with nearly 3800 yards and 29 touchdowns.

It’s largely been downhill for him ever since. And in 2008 he was overtaken by Quinn, who started nine of the 10 games in 2009, giving him 14 games played since being drafted in 2007.

Coach Eric Mangini traded for Ratliff from the Jets. Ratliff hadn’t played a game in the NFL entering 2009. He didn’t get off the bench last year either.

This trio was uninspiring throughout the 2009 season as the Browns sucked for most of the season. The team started 1-11 before winning its last four games – which basically cost it several spots in the draft.

So, it was probably understandable and predictable that Mike Holmgren and crew decided to make some changes heading into 2010. In the span of a few hours the team released Anderson and traded Quinn to Denver for Peyton Hillis and a couple draft picks.

Holmgren nearly simultaneously signed Carolina castoff Jake Delhomme and traded for one of his former Seahawk guys, Seneca Wallace.

Now, I kind of like Hillis. He hasn’t had a ton of chances in his two years but he’s reportedly a pretty decent blocker and he has a nearly 5.0 yard per carry average in limited duties as a running back for Denver the last two years. He would seem to be a pretty decent complement for Jerome Harrison, the more diminutive back who came out of nowhere to rush for more than 550 yards in the season’s final three games.

And the draft pick will net the Browns at very least a warm body and potentially another young guy with potential in the draft this season.

But does the overhaul at the quarterback position really make the Browns any better? In seven years Wallace has thrown 556 passes. He’s got a decent touchdown-to-interception ratio for his career, 25-14. But he’s always seemed like one of those guys who is just good enough so that he’s a fine backup as long as nobody better comes along. He’s small and he’s never seriously been talked about as a starter behind Matt Hasselbeck. It’s hard for me to believe that now, when he’ll be 30 as the season begins, that the light is suddenly going to flip on and he’s going to become some kind of serviceable starter.

Delhomme would have been a nice pickup for Cleveland … if they’d found a way to acquire him in 2007. The 35-year-old caused six turnovers in an upset loss to Arizona in the playoffs following the 2008 season and he admitted to forcing the issue at times during a brutal 2009 season in which he threw eight touchdowns to 18 picks. Will a change of scenery help? Or has Father Time caught up with the classy Cajun? I like Delhomme. I think he’s a good story. But I think he’s nearing the end.

Even if he can recapture some of the glory years is he going to be enough for a team that, while it won four at the end of the season, is still very talent poor? At best Delhomme has a couple years left – by the time the Browns have a chance to be real competitors Delhomme will be raising horses.

Ratliff is what he was heading into the 2009 season – a probably journeyman who may earn a pension doing nothing more than holding a clipboard.

So, are the Browns any better? They’ve brought Holmgren aboard, which by itself should help in the long haul. But in the short term they’ve replaced two young quarterbacks who appear to have shortcomings mixed with potential with two guys who are old enough where you can’t really call it potential anymore. In the short-term the quarterback play MIGHT improve. In the long-term, neither Delhomme nor Wallace are likely going to be the guys to take the Dawg Pound back to the playoffs.

This move makes a little more sense if the Browns plan to draft a quarterback early in the draft next month. Better to have your young guy learn from a couple of veterans who have done something than to have him competing with a couple of young guys who, in theory, haven’t yet worn out their chances to make it as starters in the league yet.

But if there’s not a young guy in the picture after the draft – if these were moves aimed at a short-term turnaround for a team that has only had two decent seasons since being readmitted to the NFL in 1999 – then this is a troubling start to yet another rebuilding regime in Ohio.