(Re-post from last April, as the 2011 NFL draft approached)
Today we finish our countdown of the Cleveland Browns’ 100 best draft picks of all time.
Previously, we have posted the Browns best all-time picks Nos. 100-81, followed by Nos. 80-61 and Nos. 60-41 and Nos. 40-21.
This is not a ranking of the 100 best players drafted by Cleveland. Instead, it’s an estimation of the 100 best Browns’ picks in terms of value. Simply, a Player A taken by the Browns with, say, the 120th overall pick, turned out to be a better pick for value than did a Player B who might have contributed a little more but was a 55th overall pick.
Only players who played at least three seasons with the Browns after being picked by the team in the annual draft were considered. Players acquired through a rare supplemental draft, such as Bernie Kosar, Kevin Mack and Mike Johnson, aren’t included because the mechanics of the supplemental draft are not comparable to the regular draft.
Browns greats such as Otto Graham, Marion Motley, Lou Groza, Dante Lavelli, etc., aren’t included, as they began their Browns’ careers in the All-America Football Conference.
Performance with the Browns only is considered. For instance, future Hall of Famers Doug Atkins, Willie Davis, Henry Jordan and Dick LeBeau were Browns’ draft picks from 1953-59. LeBeau was cut by the Browns before playing for them. The other three were traded by the Browns after just two seasons each as part-time players.
Playoff game performances were considered. Statistics are only for what a player did with the Browns. Statistical considerations in the rankings recognize that the game has become more pass-oriented in the last 30 years or so. Also, some players’ values are enhanced by what the Browns eventually got for them in trades.
Only occasionally is it considered whom the Browns didn’t take. The value of 1976 picks Mike Pruitt (seventh) and Dave Logan (65th) shouldn’t be diminished because they and no other team selected future Hall of Fame tackle Jackie Slater until the Los Angeles Rams took him 86th.
Positions: Offense — QB, quarterback; RB, running back; FB, fullback; WR, wide receiver; TE, tight end; C, center; G, guard; T, tackle; PK, placekicker; P, punter; Rtn, kickoff and/or punt returner; LS, long snapper.
Defense — E, end; T, tackle; NT, nose tackle; LB, linebacker; CB, cornerback; S, safety; DB, cornerback and safety.
Key: ranking number, player, position, year drafted, round/overall pick number, college, years with Browns.
20. Ray Renfro, WR-RB, 1952, 4/48, North Texas, 1952-63. Earned Pro Bowl or second-team all-league recognition in five different seasons. Sprinter’s speed helped him average 19.6 yards on his 281 pass receptions, the 15th best career yards-per-catch in NFL history.. Caught 50 touchdown passes and ran for four more TDs. Caught seven passes for 123 yards and three touchdowns in the Browns’ 1954 and 1955 championship game wins.
19. Joe Thomas, T, 2007, 1/3, Wisconsin, 2007-10. Assuming he stays healthy, Thomas is on track to move up on any list like this in the future. Made the Pro Bowl team each of his four seasons and named to all-pro first-teams each of the last two seasons. Has started all 64 games at left tackle. (Ranking was made prior to the 2011 season)
18. Gary Collins, WR-P, 1962, 1/4, Maryland, 1962-71. Three-time first-team all-pro. Averaged 16 yards on his 331 career receptions, and caught 70 touchdown passes. After playing as a backup his rookie season, caught 61 TD passes in his six full seasons — many on the famed “(Frank) Ryan to Collins post pattern” — the 61 TDs a remarkable number in a running game-oriented era of 14-game seasons. Scored five touchdowns in postseason play. Three of them (18, 42 and 51 yards) were the game’s only TDs in the Browns’ 27-0 upset win over the Baltimore Colts in the 1964 championship game. Was the Browns’ punter his first six seasons. Led the NFL with a 46.7-yard punting average in 1965.
Video: Highlights of the Browns’ last two regular season games in 1964, and the 27-0 title game win over the Colts, when Gary Collins caught three touchdown passes (videos from youtube.com):
The Plain Dealer’s Browns History Database includes PD stories on every regular season and playoff game the Browns have played in. The late Chuck Heaton, the PD’s longtime Browns beat writer, wrote about the Browns’ title game win over the Colts on Dec. 27, 1964 at Cleveland Stadium.
17. Greg Pruitt, RB-Rtn, 1973, 2/30, Oklahoma, 1973-81. Made the Pro Bowl his first two seasons due in large part to his return game, and made it in 1976 and 1977 because of his play at halfback. Rushed for 5,496 yards as a Brown, averaging 4.7 yards a carry. Caught 323 passes and totaled 43 touchdowns. Missed much of the 1979 season with a knee injury, and was used primarily as a receiver the next two years.
16. Hanford Dixon, CB, 1981, 1/22, Southern Mississippi, 1981-89. Dixon, and the Browns other cornerback, Frank Minnifield, both played man-to-man pass coverage as well as virtually any DB in the 80′s. Named first-team all-pro twice. Missed just three games, not counting the three “replacement player games” during the 24-day players strike in 1987. Intercepted 26 passes.
15. Ken Konz, CB-S, 1951, 1/14, Louisiana State, 1953-59. Served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War before joining the Browns in 1953. A first-team all-pro twice. Intercepted 30 passes (four returned for touchdowns) during regular season games — and had two INTs in the Browns’ 56-10 championship game win over the Lions in 1954, and two more in the 38-14 title win over the Rams in 1955. Led the league with a 14.4-yard punt return average in 1956. Occasionally used as a punter.
14. Jerry Sherk, DT, 1970, 2/47, Oklahoma State, 1970-81. Didn’t miss a game in his first seven seasons, and again in 1978, but was slowed by injuries his last three years. One of the quickest tackles in the league, he was a stalwart run-stopper and a fine pass rusher. Played in four Pro Bowls and was first-team all-league twice.
Video: Highlights of a 27-17 Browns’ win in 1972 at Philadelphia, including some glimpses of Jerry Sherk (72).
13. Bobby Mitchell, RB-Rtn, 1958, 7/84, Illinois, 1958-61. Played halfbaack with Jim Brown at fullback. Rushed for 2,297 yards, 5.4 per carry, and 16 touchdowns as a Brown. Averaged 11.4 yards on 128 receptions, with 16 touchdowns. Returned 62 kickoffs for a 25-yard average and three TDs, and 54 punts for an 11.2-yard average and three touchdowns. Traded with halfback Leroy Jackson, the Browns’ 11th pick in the 1962 draft, to Washington for the first pick in the draft, halfback and 1961 Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis. Davis was stricken with leukemia that summer, and died on May 18, 1963. Mitchell was used primarily at wide receiver with Washington, where he continued to build on his Hall of Fame career.
12. Clay Matthews, LB, 1978, 1/12, Southern California, 1978-93. The Browns’ all-time sacks leader with 76 1/2. Played in four Pro Bowls and was first-team all-pro once. Played in a Browns’ record 232 games, including 216 starts. Adept at covering receivers out of the backfield and excellent against the run. Clinched the Browns’ 1989 playoff game win over Buffalo, 34-30, with a late interception of a Jim Kelly pass near the Browns’ goal line.
11. Cody Risien, G-T, 1979, 7/183, Texas A&M, 1979-89. Became a starter as a rookie. One of his era’s taller offensive linemen at 6-7, Risien excelled in both run and pass blocking. Missed the 1984 season with a knee injury. Was first-team all-league twice and played in two Pro Bowls.
10. Walt Michaels, LB, 1951, 7/86, Washington & Lee, 1952-61. We’re including Michaels even though the Browns traded him to Green Bay during his rookie season training camp. They re-acquired him via trade the next April. Played in five Pro Bowls and was first-team all-league three times. Helped the Browns to five championship games. Intercepted a pass in each of the two title game wins, 1954 and 1955.
9. Michael Dean Perry, DT-DE, 1988, 2/50, Clemson, 1988-94. Great run-stopper who provided a terrific inside pass rush, with 51 1/2 quarterback sacks. Combination of strength and quickness. Played in five Pro Bowls, and made one or another first-team all-league team in each of his last six seasons with the Browns.
8. Dick Schafrath, T, 1959, 2/23, Ohio State, 1959-71. Replaced Hall of Famer Lou Groza at left tackle in 1960, after Groza retired after starting at the position since the Browns’ inception in 1946. Groza ended his one-year retirement to resume his legendary place-kicking career in 1961. Schafrath made first-team all-pro four times and played in six Pro Bowls. Missed just two games. A strong case can be made that he should be in the Hall of Fame.
Video: From the first segment of the 1965 Browns highlight film, see Dick Schafrath (77) pass protect for Frank Ryan and run block for Jim Brown and Ernie Green (one of the very few games Schafrath missed during his career was the 1965 championship game, a 23-12 Browns’ loss to Green Bay, which he sat out with an injury):
7. Brian Sipe, QB, 1972, 13/330, San Diego State, 1974-83. Sipe was on the Browns “taxi squad” as an inactive roster player in 1972 and 1973. Had mixed results in the several games he played for the poor 1974-75 Browns teams. Took over in 1976 and was the ringleader of the “Kardiac Kids,” known for their late-game heroics. Though the 1980 season ended with the interception of a Sipe pass in the end zone, clinching an Oakland playoff game win, the Browns would have never been there without the season-long brilliance that earned Sipe the NFL MVP Award. Cleveland’s all-time leader in several career passing categories.
6. Paul Warfield, WR, 1964, 1/11, Ohio State, 1964-69, 76-77. After playing halfback at Ohio State, the Browns turned Warfield into a wide receiver during his rookie training camp in 1964. He was first-team all-pro and a Pro Bowl selection as a rookie, and also in 1968 and 1969. Despite missing almost all of the 1965 season with a broken collarbone, Warfield caught 215 passes, averaging 20.2 yards a catch, and scored 44 touchdowns before he was traded to Miami after the 1969 campaign. He had also caught 24 passes for 404 yards and a touchdown in seven playoff games.
Warfield was sent to the Dolphins for their first pick, the third overall, in the 1970 draft. The Browns’ rationale for the trade was that they had to groom a quarterback to eventually replace their Pro Bowl QB, Bill Nelsen, whose knees were getting worse game by game. Cleveland used the pick to draft Purdue star QB Mike Phipps. Phipps replaced Nelsen one game into the 1972 season and led the Browns to a 10-3 record the rest of the way and a playoff berth. Cleveland was on the verge of the playoffs the next year before losing its last two games, and the Browns were a combined 7-21 in 1974-75.
Phipps separated his right (throwing) shoulder in the 1976 season opener, and Brian Sipe took over at QB. The Browns traded Phipps to the Bears and, as part of the deal, got a 1978 first-round pick in return. They used it to take tight end Ozzie Newsome with the 23rd overall pick.
Warfield, a Hall of Famer, helped the Dolphins win two Super Bowls. He returned to the Browns for his final two seasons, totaling 56 catches for 864 yards and eight touchdowns.
Video: From the Browns’ 1969 highlight film, Paul Warfield helps the Browns to a 38-14 rout of the Cowboys in a playoff game at Dallas.
5. Jim Ray Smith, G-T-DE, 1954, 6/64, Baylor, 1956-62. Spent nearly two years in the U.S. Army before joining the Browns several games into the 1956 season. Played the rest of the campaign at defensive end, before being moved to guard for the 1957 seaon. He proceeded to make one or another first-team all-pro team in each of his remaining six seasons with the Browns, and to play in five Pro Bowl games.
4. Ozzie Newsome, TE, 1978, 1/23, Alabama, 1978-90. Hall of Famer, as one of the tight ends who revolutionized the position with their ability to make plays downfield. All-time Browns leader in receptions (662) and receiving yardage (7,980). Didn’t fumble in his last three seasons. Missed just three games. First-team all-pro twice and second-team five times.
Video: A segment from a Monday Night Football game on ABC in 1979, when the Browns routed Dallas, 26-7. Two Browns’ touchdowns, including an Ozzie Newsome catch of a Brian Sipe pass.
3. Leroy Kelly, RB-Rtn, 1964, 8/110, Morgan State, 1964-73. Hall of Famer. Excelled as a punt-kickoff returner his first two seasons, and as a backup running back. Took over as the Browns’ featured runner after Jim Brown’s retirement in 1966. Rushed for 7,274 yards, leading the NFL twice. Also led in yards per carry twice and in rushing touchdowns three times. Caught 190 passes. Returned kickoffs and punts for 2,774 yards. Led league in yards per punt return once. Totaled 90 touchdowns. Made one or another first-team all-pro team five times and played in six Pro Bowls.
Chuck Heaton wrote in his Plain Dealer game story about Kelly’s great performance running with the football and catching it, too, during the Browns’ 35-17 win over the New Orleans Saints on Nov. 10, 1968, in Cleveland.
2. Gene Hickerson, G, 1957, 7/78, Mississippi, 1958-73. Hall of Famer. First-team all-pro five times and second-team another time. Played in six Pro Bowls. Missed the 1961 season with a broken leg. Missed just two other games. One of the fastest pulling guards ever, he led the way on the famed Browns sweep for Jim Brown, Bobby Mitchell, Leroy Kelly and Ernie Green.
1. Jim Brown, RB, 1957, 1/6, Syracuse, 1957-65. Hall of Famer regarded by many as the greatest player ever. Won various NFL MVP awards in four seasons, and was consensus first-team all-pro in every season except 1962, when he got some first-and second-team recognition. Held virtually every rushing record when he retired. Rushed for 12,312 yards and 5.2 yards per carry. Caught 262 passes for 2,499 yards. Scored 106 rushing TDs and 20 receiving TDs. Averaged 104 rushing yards a game over the 118 games in his career, as NFL seasons were 12 games his first four seasons and 14 games his last five campaigns. Ran for 114 yards in the Browns’ 27-0 win over the Colts in the 1964 championship game.
Video: From the Browns’ 1961 highlights film, Jim Brown ties his own record — then the NFL record — with 237 rushing yards in a 45-24 Browns’ win over the Eagles in Cleveland Stadium:
That’s all for today.
