Somehow this trade seems good for Charlie Frye.

He gets to go to the Seattle Seahawks, try to piece his career back together for Mike Holmgren, a guy who knows a thing or two about quarterbacking. And he gets away from the dysfunctional mess that is the Browns.

Did we say dysfunctional? That's pretty harsh, but let's take a look at the result of this trade of the opening day starter two days after a dysfunctional opening game.

Frye ''won'' the ''quarterback competition'' of training camp because the Browns felt he gave the team the best chance to win.

He got a quarter and a half to prove himself in the regular season.

He's gone.

Anderson finished second in the competition. In a two-man competition, he lost. He's now the starter.

Brady Quinn, who three weeks ago was not ready to be one play away from being the starter, is now one play away from being the starter.

And Ken Dorsey, who was cut 10 days ago, is back as the veteran mentor to Quinn.

So the offense is being led by a quarterback who has never won a game, a quarterback who has never played a game and a guy brought in to be a mentor even though the coach said he would only want guys on the roster because they can play.

This trade clarifies the quarterback position, General Manager Phil Savage said.

Glad we cleared that up.

In an effort to clarify things, the Browns made a move unprecedented in modern NFL history. Elias Sports Bureau reported that since the AFL/NFL merger in 1970, no quarterback had ever started the first game and been traded before Week 2.

That's only 37 years.

Savage said the move doesn't change the team's plans but adjusts them.

OK.

But it sure seems like a pretty major change at a time when well major changes are not made. These kinds of moves are usually made late in preseason, as part of the building of a roster. The last time a change like this was made was 1999, when Tim Couch stepped in for Ty Detmer. This is not the same, but we all know how that one worked out.

Words like ''priceless'' and ''flabbergasted'' were used by people in the league. One insider said the image was that the Browns were acting out of ''desperation.'' Time will tell, but Savage said the main job of the team this year is to develop Brady Quinn the right way.

After a brief pause, he added: ''And win.''

Glad we clarified that as well.

Frye clearly has a ways to go to be a dependable NFL quarterback. But the trade comes just less than two weeks after Savage said Frye deserved a chance to play some games with a ''full deck.''

Frye's the one who got dealt after a chance that lasted a little more than 20 minutes.

Make no mistake, this was a bad 20 minutes. Real bad.

Ten passes, five sacks, rating of 10, deer-in-the-headlights look.

Clearly, Frye had lost any confidence he ever had when he joined the Browns.

But maybe coin flips and being given the job before he earned it and being beat up regularly and playing with an injured wrist and trying to learn a new offense while looking over your shoulder at the first-round draft choice all can affect confidence.

Maybe.

What's evident is that everything Frye did in the opener he did in preseason and last season and his rookie season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers gave him fits. He held the ball too long. He depended on running around to make plays like he did at the University of Akron.

This was no great revelation.

Yet he was named the starter, as if he'd be transformed from preseason to the regular season with some pixie dust. Now a third-round pick is traded for a sixth-round pick and that is called ''value.''

Anderson is tabbed to start, and guess what? He probably will do the same things against the Cincinnati Bengals that he did against Pittsburgh. Stand in the pocket, get rid of the ball, make some good throws, make some bad throws and turn the ball over.

It's curious to hear Savage say that Frye was named the starter for the first game, that he had no guarantees at his position. Fair enough.

Frye clearly had problems Sunday. But to think that he was the only problem is shortsighted.

This team has big problems, including with reactions like this that come across as knee-jerk to a bad game.

The Browns say they are an organization that is together and united and focused with a vision for the future.

The problem is they don't show that.

They don't show it on the field or in personnel decisions or when naming an opening day starter and then trading him two days after opening day.

Frye gets to go to Seattle and play in the West Coast offense for Holmgren.

Browns fans? They're left with struggles that never seem to end.