Derek Anderson is a professional quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League.

Anderson signed with the Cardinals in the offseason after completing a six-year stint with the Cleveland Browns. He played in 39 games with the Browns, all in the last four years. Anderson started 34 of those games. He threw for 7,083 yards with 46 touchdowns and 45 interceptions during that span. Also in the last four years, Anderson completed 52.9 percent of his passes, was sacked 47 times and ran for 180 yards and five touchdowns. He fumbled 21 times, losing the ball on eight occasions.

The Baltimore Ravens drafted Anderson in the sixth round of the 2005 NFL draft with the 213th pick overall, but he was released before ever playing. Anderson was then signed off of waivers by the Browns. He did not see any playing time his first year as a third-string quarterback. In 2006, Anderson played in five games and started three of them. He threw for 793 yards with five touchdowns and eight interceptions.NFL.com: Derek Anderson

Anderson attended Oregon State University where three-year starter from 2002-04. He was the first quarterback to lead the team to three bowl games during the school’s 112-year history. He had 20 of the top 50 passing marks (281 yards or more) in Oregon State history before he left. Anderson was one of only six Pac-10 quarterbacks to throw for more than 10,000 yards for his career – joining Carson Palmer (Southern Cal), Steve Stenstrom (Stanford), Cade McKnown (UCLA), Cody Pickett (Washington) and Andrew Walter (Arizona State). …For his career, Anderson completed 768-of-1,515 passes (50.7%) for 11,249 yards, 79 touchdowns and 57 interceptions, breaking the old school career records of 9,680 yards and 55 scores by Jonathan Smith (1998-2001)…His 10,716 yards in total offense broke Smith’s previous school record of 9,680.http://cle.scout.com/3/DerekAnderson.html

Anderson started the season as the backup quarterback to Brady Quinn.http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2009/09/brady_quinn_wins_cleveland_bro.html. He replaced an ineffective Quinn during week three of the season and started the next five games. Quinn returned after the bye week.http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4644223 Anderson assumed the starter's position when Quinn suffered a season-ending foot injury against the Kansas City Chiefs on December 20 and started the last two games of the season.http://blog.oregonlive.com/nfl/2009/12/derek_anderson_to_start_sunday.html

Anderson finished the year completing 44.5 percent of his passes (81-for-182) for 888 yards with three touchdowns and 10 interceptions.http://www.nfl.com/players/derekanderson/gamelogs?id=AND180512&season=2009

Anderson started the first eight games of the season, but struggled mightily as the Browns stumbled to a 3-5 start. On November 3, 2008, the Browns announced that Brady Quinn was replacing Derek Anderson as the starting quarterback for the team. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3680927 Anderson reclaimed the job when Quinn suffered a broken finger against the Houston Texans on November 23http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3727363 but had his own season come to an end because of a torn medial collateral ligament he suffered against the Indianapolis Colts on November 30.http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3735466 Anderson played 10 games in 2008, completing just 50.2 percent of his passes (142-for-283) for 1,615 yards with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions.http://www.nfl.com/players/derekanderson/gamelogs?id=AND180512&season=2008 The Browns had signed Anderson to a three-year, $24 million contract during the 2008 offseason.http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3270420

Charlie Frye was named the Browns' starter for the 2007 season. After a poor performance in the season opener, Frye headed toward the bench and Anderson got his shot. Anderson went on to start the remaining 15 games, leading the Browns to a 10-5 record as a starter. Anderson threw for 3,787 yards with 29 touchdowns and 19 interceptions as the Browns narrowly missed making the playoffs.NFL.com: Derek Anderson Anderson finished with a quarterback rating of 82.5 and was named to his first Pro Bowl.Cleveland Browns: Edwards, Cribbs going to Hawaii (December 18, 2007)