Baylor’s Robert Griffin III and Green Bay’s Matt Flynn are all the rage. Texas A&M’s Ryan Tannehill may be the better fit. However, if the Arizona Cardinals were to release quarterback Kevin Kolb, a player who they traded for just one season ago and is due $7 million this season, The Plain Dealer’s Tony Grossi writes that the one-time Philadelphia Eagle would loft to the top of the Cleveland Browns’ list for quarterback of the future.

Kolb was a much better quarterback in the West Coast offense in which he was schooled in Philadelphia. Arizona doesn’t run it. Also, Kolb was drafted by Philadelphia partly based on evaluations made by Heckert and coach Pat Shurmur — the Browns’ top two football men.

The Kolb-to-Cleveland rumors appear to be an annual event, the Punxsutawney Phil of the offseason. Last season, the Browns were a speculated trading partner with the Eagles. A season earlier, with Donovan McNabb in tow, Kolb was going to be the heir apparent to Brady Quinn.

Arizona’s decision could be an easy one given the play of John Skelton, and the team as a whole, over the final half of the season. Kolb was successful, albeit in a small sample, within Andy Reid’s West Coast offense, but largely failed (nine touchdowns, eight interceptions and a QB rating of 81.1) in the scheme run by the Cardinals. The ties to Heckert are undeniable and the measurables are certainly in tact. Whether this speculation has any merit, however, can be debated.