EDITOR’S NOTE: The following, which is the last in a three-part series on the top Browns players from 1965-95, covers the players ranked nos. 1 through 10. It is a part of a bigger series on the 70 best Browns players of all-time.
Be very good.
And do it over a long period of time.
That’s the recipe for being a truly great player, and it’s what all the men on this list of the top 10 Browns from the period of 1965-95, have in common.
There are four Pro Football Hall of Famers in this group, which is a pretty good percentage (40 percent), another player who has made the list of 25 finalists for the HOF, and still another who would most likely be enshrined in Canton if fate had not intervened and blocked his path.
All of the players were dominant – and then some. Whenever they played, fans couldn’t help but notice them – and neither could their opponents, much to their dismay.
Here’s the entire list of the best of the best from that 31-year period:
*No 10 – defensive tackle Jerry Sherk – played with the Browns from 1970-81 – He might be the greatest defensive tackle the Browns have ever had, which is really saying something since the other prime candidate is Bob Gain, a five-time Pro Bowler in the 1950s and early ’60s (Hall of Famer Bill Willis is not included in this particular discussion since his position, middle guard in the 1940s and ’50s in which he lined up over the center, translates more to a 4-3 middle linebacker in today’s game). We have Sherk, who made it to four Pro Bowls (consecutively following the 1973-76 seasons), rated slightly ahead of two other stalwarts on this list in Michael Dean Perry (No. 12), another five-time Pro Bowler who played from 1988-94, and Walter Johnson (No. 13), a three-time Pro Bowler who was Sherk’s teammate for the first seven years of his career. Johnson and Perry were extremely quick off the ball, and Gain was so smart and could use his hands so well that he appeared to be quicker than he was. But with all due respect to those players, Sherk, the latter of the Browns’ two second-round picks in the 1970 NFL Draft and their fourth selection overall, was the quickest and smartest of the bunch. He was quick to start with after having excelled as a college wrestler at Oklahoma State, but he was able to enhance that – greatly so, in many respects – by simply being very quiet and listening intently at words that he could glean from the opposing huddle. Knowing the Browns’ offensive plays, he would try to assimilate those calls with the words he was hearing from the other quarterbacks. And when he guessed right, which was most of the time, that, plus his quickness, allowed him to dart into the backfield to disrupt plays almost before they really had a chance to start. He did it so well, in fact, that opponents would complain to the officials that Sherk was offside. Sherk was great as a run-stopper – like Gain, he used his hands very well from his wrestling days to shed blocks — but he was even more prolific as a pass rusher because he could combine his quickness with strength. His 69 career sacks are second in Browns history, as are his 647 career sack yards. He shares the team record of four sacks in a game (1976 against the Philadelphia Eagles), and his 12 sacks in 1979 are tied for fifth-most in a season. It was about two-thirds of the way through that 1979 season that Sherk suffered a staph infection on his knee at Philadelphia, nearly claiming his life, effectively ending his career and as a result shortening his career just enough and taking away an undetermined number of what would have certainly been productive years, that it put him just short of induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But being in the Hall of the Very Good is still … well, very good, isn’t it?
*No. 9 – outside linebacker Clay Matthews – played with the Browns from 1978-93 – When he suffered a chipped bone in his ankle in training camp as a rookie, Browns fans rolled their eyes in dismay. How in the name of plaster casts could the Browns have been so foolish as to waste their first pick in the 1978 NFL Draft – and No. 12 overall – on a player so brittle that he had gotten hurt even before the regular season had started? At that point, there was probably no one – maybe not even first-year head coach Sam Rutigliano, the man who drafted him – who could have foreseen not just what Matthews would do in his career, but also for how long he would do it. Maybe the greatest player at his position in team history – he made it to four Pro Bowls in the last half of the 1980s, tying him with Walt Michaels from the 1950s for the most by a Browns linebacker – Matthews was as athletic and intelligent of a player as the franchise has ever had on defense. We mentioned Sherk’s tremendous pass-rushing abilities, but Matthews was even better in that respect. Matthews is the only player ahead of Sherk in career sacks on the Browns, standing first with 76.5, and also the only player ahead of him in career sack yards, being No. 1 again with 568. Then there are his longevity team records, which might be even more impressive. He is first with 16 consecutive seasons played, and 232 games played. He played 16 seasons overall, second-most only to Hall of Famer’s Lou Groza’s 17. In that rookie season of 1978, when everybody thought he would log more time on crutches and in street clothes than on the field, Matthews played in 15 games. The only season that was pretty much a wash for him was the one that was pretty much a wash for everybody in the NFL, 1982. A players’ strike shortened the regular season to nine games, and he was able to play in only two of them because of a broken ankle. But he was able to play a long time because he continued to be productive. One of the few players Bill Belichick kept when he was named head coach of the Browns in 1991, Matthews recorded nine sacks in his second-to-last season of 1992. He left the Browns in the new-found free agency following the 1993 season and played three more years with the Atlanta Falcons, giving him 19 overall in the NFL.
*No. 8 – fullback Mike Pruitt – played with the Browns from 1976-84 – Pruitt’s first two seasons with the Browns were forgettable. But his last seven were memorable – even iconic. The team’s first-round pick, at No. 7 overall, in the 1976 NFL Draft out of Purdue, he couldn’t hold onto the ball. And with each bobble, fumble or dropped pass, he pushed himself further and further into the doghouse of no-nonsense head coach head coach Forrest Gregg, who tolerated those kinds of mistakes as much as he did foolishness. To the hard-nosed Gregg, loose hands sunk teams, including his. Pruitt rushed just 52 times – for but 138 yards – in his rookie season and as a result of that got even fewer attempts, 47, in 1977. His receptions total also fell from a miniscule eight in 1976 to an even more miniscule three. Certainly, it was still early in his career, but Pruitt had bust written all over him. He caught the break of all breaks when Gregg was fired with one game left in the 1977 season and then quickly replaced by a virtual unknown, New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Sam Rutigliano. Rutigliano made a lot of changes – physical, mental and emotional — on the team, and one of them was to infuse Pruitt with a heaping helping of confidence. It worked – and then some. Pruitt’s hands never became great, but they did become passable – in more ways than one. Pruitt’s rushing totals immediately skyrocketed, and so did his receiving stats. He rushed for 560 yards and six touchdowns in 1978 and then in ’79 began a stretch in which he rushed for 1,000 yards in four of the next five seasons, missing only in the strike-shortened 1982 campaign that had just nine games. He also became a reliable target in the passing game, leading the team with 63 receptions, setting a club record for running backs, in 1980 and then duplicating that the next year. When it was all said and done, Pruitt had rushed for 6,540 yards and 47 touchdowns, both of which are the third-most in franchise history, and caught 255 passes.
*No. 7 – running back/returner Greg Pruitt – played with the Browns from 1973-81 – Too small. That was the rap on the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Pruitt in 1973 when he came out following a record-setting career at Oklahoma, causing him to fall to the second round of the NFL Draft, at No. 30 overall, where the Browns selected him. However, Pruitt was the pick of the front office and not head coach Nick Skorich, and as such he was reluctant to use him. But in 1975, the year after Skorich was fired and replaced by Forrest Gregg, Pruitt began to assert himself and played a big role in the offense – and special teams — for the next seven years. In fact, he might be the most diversified weapon the Browns have ever had. Career-wise in club history, he ranks fourth with 5,496 rushing yards, third with 323 receptions, first with an 11.8 average yards per punt return and first with a 26.3 average yards per kickoff return. By the time he went to the Los Angeles Raiders in an ill-fated trade following the 1981 season, no one was lamenting his size anymore. He stood very tall, and still does.
*No. 6 – quarterback Bernie Kosar – played with the Browns from 1985-93 – Despite the fact they had finished just 5-11 in 1984, causing head coach Sam Rutigliano to get fired midway through the year, the Browns had many of the components needed to become a contender. And then when they finagled their way into position to take Kosar at No. 1 overall in the 1985 NFL Supplemental Draft, they got the major part they still lacked, a franchise quarterback. The result was that over the next five seasons, the Browns went to the playoffs all five times, won four Central Division titles and made three AFC Championship Game appearances. It’s the second-best run of sustained, uninterrupted excellence in team history, and it would not have happened without Kosar. The Youngstown (Ohio) Boardman High School and Miami Hurricanes product wanted desperately to play for his hometown team, and as it turned out, his hometown team desperately needed him, elevating their play and accomplishments dramatically. He became one of the best quarterbacks in the league during that time, and still ranks either second or third on the Browns career-wise in every major passing category. All that, plus the fact he has remained in the Greater Cleveland area after his playing days and become the modern face of the franchise, has made him one of the most popular figures in club history.
*No. 5 – quarterback Brian Sipe – played with the Browns from 1974-83 – Sipe is the player who ranks ahead of Kosar in four of those aforementioned passing categories, including completions (1,944), yards (23,713) and touchdowns (154). As such, he joins Kosar and Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown as the three most popular players in Browns history. That seems fitting, because Sipe was Kosar’s hero growing up. Both quarterbacks were extremely smart. What they may have lacked in physical prowess, they more than made up for in football intelligence. They could read defenses like a book. But that’s where the similarity between the two players ends. From the moment he arrived, Kosar was deemed to be the franchise quarterback after having been a high-profile college player, leading the University of Miami to the national championship. That was hardly the case with Sipe, who was a lowly 13 th-round choice in the 1972 NFL Draft after having played off the beaten path at San Diego State. At a listed 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds – he was nowhere near that big – Sipe was much smaller than the 6-5, 214-pound Kosar. Sipe was much more athletic than Kosar, but his arm wasn’t quite as strong. And whereas Kosar was thrust into the lineup almost immediately – not even halfway through his rookie season following an injury to Gary Danielson – it took years for Sipe to establish himself. He didn’t even make the regular roster in his first two seasons, playing on the taxi squad, the forerunner of today’s practice squad, and didn’t really elevate himself as the unquestioned starter until late in 1978 when he had his first 300-yard passing performance in a lopsided win over the Baltimore Colts. But the end result was the same in that Kosar had a great career as a Browns quarterback, just like Sipe.
*No. 4 – running back/returner Leroy Kelly – played with the Browns from 1964-73 – In several ways, Kelly was to Jim Brown what Sipe was to Kosar. While Brown, the runner he followed, was taken in the first round round, at No. 6 overall, in the 1957 NFL Draft out of then tradition-rich Syracuse, Kelly wasn’t chosen until the eighth round, at No. 110 overall, out of tiny Morgan State. In fact, nobody knew who Kelly was, or that he had even been drafted. That’s because everybody was focused on some two-way back from Ohio State named Paul Warfield, whom the Browns drafted in the first round. But just like Brown – and Warfield, for that matter – Kelly was also iconic and made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And with good reason, for on the club’s career rushing lists, Kelly is second only to Brown with 7,274 yards and 74 touchdowns.
*No. 3 – guard Gene Hickerson – played with the Browns from 1958-60 and 1962-73 – Hickerson blocked for Kelly, Brown and another Pro Football Hall of Famer running back from the Browns in Bobby Mitchell. That was no accident. If you ask the three men, they will tell you in no uncertain terms just how important Hickerson’s play was to their success. Big and strong for the time (at 6-foot-3 and 248 pounds) and yet very fast and athletic – one of the first offensive linemen in NFL history to have all of those assets – Hickerson would lead the famous Cleveland sweep, wiping out a would-be tackler at the point of attack and then proceeding to run downfield and make another block, or maybe even two. All this is why, in 2007 when an ailing Hickerson was finally being voted into the HOF, Brown, Kelly and Mitchell joined together in pushing Hickerson in his wheelchair out onto the stage at Fawcett Stadium during the enshrinement ceremonies. And just like the three runners for whom he blocked, Hickerson also had a real cool factor to him. He had grown up in Memphis, Tenn. with some kid named Elvis Presley. Because of that, Presley became a big Browns fan and Hickerson would send him game films so he could keep up with the team.
*No. 2 – wide receiver Paul Warfield – played with the Browns from 1964-69 and 1976-77 – When it comes to Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receivers, everybody seems to want to say how graceful Lynn Swann was. And while that’s true, Swann was no more graceful – and, in fact, probably not as graceful, really – as Warfield. Watching the graduate of Warren (Ohio) Harding High School glide across the field and make plays – almost effortlessly — was like seeing poetry in motion. No effort was wasted. Every movement had a purpose. For wide receivers then and even now, it was – and is – football the way it was meant to be played. And, right from the start, Warfield’s numbers were just as impressive as the manner in which he performed. In a day and age when, because of the way the rules allowed defensive backs to almost mug receivers, thus limiting the passing numbers, Warfield still managed to have 52 receptions for nine touchdowns, averaging 17.7 yards per catch, in his rookie season to help the Browns to the 1964 NFL championship. In 1968, he recorded 50 receptions for 1,067 yards and 12 touchdowns. Warfield averaged a robust 21.3 yards per catch that year. In the eight Cleveland seasons of his 13-year NFL career, his average was 19.2, which ranks second in team history. Warfield didn’t just make catches. He made catches – long-gainers – that really meant something and greatly affected the game. With Warfield and Gary Collins teamed together from 1964-69, the Browns had arguably the best wide receiver duo in the game.
*No. 1 – tight end Ozzie Newsome – played with the Browns from 1978-90 – The players on this top 10 list were all great – special – during their playing days. But what made Newsome the greatest, and the most special, of the bunch? It was because his production and consistancy were off the charts, and he literally changed the way the game was played. Newsome finished his 13-year career with 662 receptions, which is not only the most in club history but also exactly twice as many as the next-closest player, Gary Collins, who had 331. Yes, Newsome lapped the field – and a very good field at that. He’s also way, way ahead of the pack with 7,980 receiving yards, which is nearly 2,400 ahead of runnerup Ray Renfro (5,508). He once caught a pass in a whopping 150 consecutive games, which is far and away a club record. Finally, at 6-foot-2 and 232 pounds – the same size, ironically, as Jim Brown – and with good speed that enabled him to make plays, he was a match-up nightmare for defenses. He was too fast and athletic to be covered by linebackers, and too big and strong to be covered by linebackers. As such, he revolutionized the tight end position, becoming the very first of a new breed. No longer were tight ends were large thick men – offensive tackle types, as it were – who would run a seven-yard curl pattern, catch a pass and then fall down. Indeed, once Newsome came along, they were wide receivers in a tight end’s body, opening up the vertical passing game that still exists today like it had never been opened up before.
NEXT: The players from 1965-95 who got left off our list.
