EDITOR’S NOTE: The following, on the top 10 Browns players from the expansion era (1999-2015), is part of a series on the best .
The best of the worst.
That would be the knee-jerk reaction to defining the following group.
And to be honest, that is exactly what it is – technically, at least.
These are indeed the best players in the worst period in Browns history, the expansion era.
The Browns’ struggles since 1999 are well-documented. Heading into this season, they had posted 15 losing records in 17 years, with but one playoff appearance.
As such, they are the anti-early Browns, who made it to the league championship in each of their first 10 seasons of existence, with seven titles.
The current Browns would need a pair of binoculars to see that kind of success, and maybe not even then. The two eras are at opposite ends of the performance spectrum from one another.
Having said al, that, then, this does not mean the present era has been without any stars.
On the contrary, in fact.
There are some very good players on this list, several of whom could be – and should be – considered the best the Browns have ever had at those positions, no matter what era you’re talking about. Yes, you read that right, the best.
It’s just that the Browns have not had enough – not nearly enough, really – of those types of players since they returned to the field 14 years ago. And in football, the ultimate team sport, that’s a death knell.
But enough of that. It’s time to look at the best this era has had to offer:
*No. 10 – cornerback Joe Haden – played with the Browns from 2010-present – He isn’t quite yet the team’s best current player – that still belongs to left tackle Joe Thomas, who appears near the top of this list – but, in that 2016 will be his seventh season, he is in the prime years of his career and has far and away the most upside potential, especially if he can stay healthy, which he didn’t do last season. He is already one of the better cornerbacks the Browns have ever had – either with the original franchise or the expansion-era version – and he has the chance to be one of the best, again if he can shake the concussion and ankle problems that obliterated his 2015 season. The club’s first-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, he got off to a fast start as a rookie, then took a real hit two years later in 2012 when he was suspended by the NFL for four games at the start of the season for taking a banned substance. His loss caused the Cleveland pass defense to get torched. He came back and played well in 2013 and ’14 before things went south last season. Now he has to get back onto the field and productive once more, and if he can, then he will get himself back into the conversation as one of the top cornerbacks in football.
*No. 9 – running back Jamal Lewis – played with the Browns from 2007-09 – Especially when you consider how long – or, as it were, how little — he played, Lewis is not just one of the best running backs the Browns have ever had, but also one of the best players at any position. In his first season of 2007 after signing as a free agent from the Baltimore Ravens, he rushed for 1,304 yards, the seventh-highest total in team history. His tough, disciplined, hard-nosed approach both on and off the field played a key role in the Browns doing an about-face that year, going 10-6 and barely missing the playoffs for the first time in five years. He followed that up in 2008 by getting 1,002, becoming the first Brown in 26 years to put together back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. He was just about on pace to do it again in 2009 before concussion issues ended his career.
*No. 8 – cornerback Daylon McCutcheon – played with the Browns from 1999-2005 – When the Browns returned to the field and struggled to have much star power, either team-wise or individually, McCutcheon provided some highlights. The son of former Los Angeles Rams running back Lawrence McCutcheon, he was good in coverage and even better in run defense. He was the team’s best tackler, hardly ever failing to bring down the man with the ball. He also had good hands, getting four interceptions in 2001 in helping the Browns to a team-record 33 thefts. Two years later, he returned an interception 75 yards for a touchdown – the second time in his career he had done that — to seal a 33-13 rout of Pittsburgh on Sunday Night Football. He retired with 12 interceptions and 296 tackles, both bright spots in an otherwise difficult time in Browns history.
*No. 7 – tight end Kellen Winslow—played with the Browns in 2004 and from 2006-08 – Winslow had about as much ability as any Brown in the last 30 years, and as such left town with maybe more unfulfilled promise as any player. When the Browns traded up with the Detroit Lions to draft Winslow at No. 6 overall in 2004, they – and everybody else – were convinced they were getting a true game-changer, one of the best tight ends since the days of Pro Football Hall of Famers Ozzie Newsome and Winslow’s father, also Kellen Winslow, in the late 1970s and through the ’80s. Big, strong and fast, he was exactly like them in that he was a wide receiver in a tight end’s body, running downfield to catch passes and as such being too big for cornerbacks to cover and too fast for linebackers. He showed in training camp and the preseason of his rookie year that he was as good as advertised. Then came the regular season, which ended almost before it began. He suffered a broken leg at the end of the second game at Dallas, which began a nightmarish odyssey in which he missed almost two full seasons. He sat out all of 2005 after mangling himself in any number of ways in an offseason motorcycle accident. When he finally returned to play in 2006, he was a shadow of himself physically. Still, he willed himself to have two productive seasons, catching 89 passes that year, typing the team record set twice by Newsome, and following that up with a team-leading 82 receptions and 1,106 receiving yards in 2007. Those are two of the best seasons ever by a Browns pass catcher. He played in just 10 games in 2008, catching 43 passes, before incurring a staph infection that turned into an ugly exchange of words and accusations with Browns General Manager Phil Savage. Winslow was eventually traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the ensuing offseason, with his once-promising career in Cleveland ending with 219 catches for 11 touchdowns. He has also played for the New England Patriots and New York Jets from 2009-13.
*No. 6 – wide receiver Braylon Edwards — played with the Browns from 2005-09 – Edwards’ story is much like that of Winslow in that he was the son of a former NFL player (running back Stanley Edwards), came in with all kinds of potential and fanfare, played well for a short period of time and then left amidst controversy. He never produced nearly what the Browns thought he would when they drafted him at No. 3 overall in 2005. He had 32 receptions as a rookie before suffering a season-ending knee injury late in the year. Then he really started to come into his own in 2006 with 61 receptions for a team-leading six touchdowns. He enjoyed a truly special year in 2007, maybe the best by a receiver in Browns history, when he had 80 receptions and set team records with 1,289 receiving yards and 16 touchdown catches. He had become one of the most feared pass-catchers in the game. But again, as is the case with Winslow, the 2008 season, which should have been even better than 2007 as he continued to improve, turned out instead to be the beginning of the end for Edwards. He got hurt early in training camp when – get this – he was running sprints at the end of practice in his sock feet and got stepped on by fellow wideout Donte Stallworth. It was one of a number of injuries to key players that occurred in camp and the preseason, dooming the 2008 season before it even began. He did not return until the season opener and was rustier than an old gate. Yes, he ended up leading the team again that year with 55 receptions for 873 yards and three touchdowns, but he wasn’t the same, and never would be. He played just four games in 2009 before off-the-field issues caused dictatorial head coach Eric Mangini to trade him to his old team, the New York Jets. Edwards, who finished the Cleveland portion of his career with 238 receptions for 28 touchdowns, has since also played with the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks, and even did a second stint with the Jets.
*No. 5 – wide receiver Kevin Johnson – played with the Browns from 1999-2003 – There are those who have criticized Johnson for allegedly pumping up his numbers by catching a number of short passes and then going down before he got hit so as to keep from getting hurt. How sad. How wrong. Johnson caught 315 career passes with the Browns, tying him for fourth place in franchise history with Brian Brennan, who also grsbbed plenty of short passes and made sure no one got a clean shot at him. And nobody has ever disrespected Brennan for that. So why is it OK to do so with Johnson? Is it because he played in the expansion era, when so much has gone wrong with the Browns? Wjo knows. But this much is true: Johnson was a good player. In a lot of games, he was the only good player the Browns had on the field. As such, he should be praised for not getting dragged down into the mud with all of his skills-challenged teammates.
*No. 4 – wide receiver/returner Dennis Northcutt – played with the Browns from 2000-06 – Again, because he played in the expansion era, and because he dropped a wide-open pass at Pittsburgh in 2002 that would have clinched a huge postseason victory, Northcutt has never gotten his due. But he was very good in two different realms – catching passes and returning punts – and kept his performance level high even when the club was mostly struggling. With 276 catches during his seven-year career, he is tied for 10th place in Browns history with running back Earnest Byner. Maybe you’ve heard of Byner. Northcutt is also one of the best punt returners the club has ever had, right up there with the likes of Joshua Cribbs, Greg Pruitt, Gerald “Ice Cube” McNeil, Eric Metcalf, Dino Hall and Pro Football Hall of Famers Leroy Kelly and Bobby Mitchell. On the team’s career lists, Northcutt is first in returns with 202, second in yards (2,149) , tied with Metcalf for fourth in average yards per return (10.6) and tied with Mitchell, Cribbs and Kelly for second with touchdowns (four). That’s not bad for a second-round draft choice (in 2000). After leaving the Browns, Northcutt played 2007 and ’08 with the Jacksonville Jaguars and ’09 with the Detroit Lions.
*No. 3 – wide receiver/returner Josh Cribbs – played with the Browns from 2005-12 – Hall of Famer Jim Brown is generally regarded as not just the best running back of all-time, but maybe also the best player overall. And Joe Montana, who is all about winning and thinks the quarterback’s main job is to win games and championships, has said that Otto Graham is the best quarterback of all-time since he guided the early Browns to 10 league title games in as many seasons, with seven championships. Could it be that the Browns also have the best returner of all-time in Cribbs? A good case could be made for such. Cribbs is tied with Leon Washington for the most kickoff returns for touchdowns in NFL history with eight. He also has three punt return scores for 11 touchdown returns overall. He is tied with Cleveland Glenville High School and Ohio State product Ted Ginn Jr. in having two kickoff return touchdowns of 100 yards or more in a single game, and is tied with nine others for most kickoff return touchdowns in a single game with two. In career kickoff returns on the Browns, Cribbs is first with 387 attempts and 10,015 yards, and tied with Walter “The Flea” Roberts for second place with a 25.9 yards-per-attempt average. In career punt returns on the Browns, Cribbs is first with 2,154 yards. Every time he touched the ball on returns, especially on kickoffs, he was a threat to take it all the way. He was an electrifying player. He was also the Browns’ best coverage man on special teams. And to think he came to the Browns as a rookie free agent after being a great slash-style quarterback at Kent State.
*No. 2 – left tackle Joe Thomas – played with the Browns from 2007-present – No. 3 overall draft picks are supposed to work out. Sometimes they do, and sometimes not. In the case of Thomas, who was selected in 2007 out of Wisconsin, it worked out great for the Browns. Through his first nine years heading into the 2016 season, Thomas had made it to nine Pro Bowls, tying him with kicker/left tackle Lou Groza and running back Jim Brown, both Pro Football Hall of Famers, for the most in team history. As such, if he’s not the best left tackle in the game, then who is? He is on the fast track to becoming the Browns’ 17th member of the Hall of Fame. And the guy is durable. Thomas has not only played in all 144 regular-season contests of his career, but has also taken every offensive snap – every single, solitary snap. Wow! If only the Browns had hit the mark so squarely with all of their high-profile draft picks since they returned to the field in 1999.
*No. 1 – kicker Phil Dawson – played with the Browns from 1999-2012 – Yes, of course, it says something – negatively so – that the top player of the expansion era is a kicker, that the No. 2 man is a left tackle and Nos. 3 and 4 are returners. With all due respect, yikes! A team’s best players in any given era, especially now with so many points being scored in the game, are supposed to be at the offensive skill positions, and when they’re not, the franchise is in trouble. And we all know that the new Browns have been in trouble from the very start, and haven’t really escaped it. But Dawson can’t help that. He can only be the best that he can be, and he was very, very good. Lou Groza is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and he played on a lot of poor fields in all those dual-purpose stadiums. He was – and still is – a legend, both in Cleveland and throughout pro football overall. But despite that, with everything considered, Dawson is the best kicker the Browns – new or old – have ever had. He is second on Cleveland’s all-time scoring list with 1,271 points, just 78 behind Groza. His 120 points in 2007 are tied for No. 2 in team history. Career-wise, he is first with 305 field goals, first in field-goal percentage (.840) and first with 29 consecutive field goals made. His 30 field goals in 2008 are the most ever in a season, and his six field goals against the San Diego Chargers in 2006 are the most in a game. You can go on and on with his bests and team records. The list is as long as one of Dawson’s field goals. Did we mention that of the Browns’ 17 longest field goals – all 52 yards or longer — 11 of them belong to Dawson? But just know this: Dawson was the Browns’ best scoring weapon during his 14-year career with them. That is obviously good for Dawson, who has tremendous respect for the team’s great legacy of kickers, but bad for the team. Where are the quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends? And where, oh, where, is Dawson? The geniuses running the Browns then – we’re talking about you, specifically, Joe Banner – allowed him to walk away in free agency following the 2012 season without even making him an offer. He is still with the San Francisco 49ers, with whom he signed then, and he continues to do an outstanding job.
*NEXT: The best players from the 1965-95 era.
