I talked in my last post about the fact that media members covering the Browns refer to Jim Brown as “The Greatest.”
That only makes sense.
He’s the greatest running back – and also the greatest player at any position — of all-time.
So, then, a list of the best Browns running backs ever starts with Brown. Actually, it’s better just to leave Brown out of it. What’s the point of including him? He tested out of having to be in those rankings a long time ago.
As such, I ranked the 10 best Browns backs not named Jim Brown. That was a more interesting study. Plus, by eliminating Brown, it allowed me to include Cleo Miller, a guy who never gets his due, at No. 10.
The situation at Browns quarterback is much the same as it is at running back. There is Otto Graham and everyone else.
Graham was recently ranked the No. 4 quarterback of all-time by former longtime Dallas Cowboys executive Gil Brandt, one of the smartest men in the history of the game. That’s a high honor.
There are those, however, who believe Graham is the greatest quarterback ever. One of them is Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana.
Montana was all about winning. He understood – correctly so – that the job of the quarterback is not necessarily to throw for 300 yards and three touchdowns every game. The one and only job of the quarterback is to win the game, and there’s never been a more consistent winner over a long period at that position in the history of pro football than Graham, who guided each of the first 10 Browns teams from 1946-55 to the league championship game, with seven titles.
But after Graham, who are the best Browns quarterbacks ever?
From a team standpoint, quarterback is not like running back where you can make a top 10 list. You can’t find that many on any club, even the best ones.
But you can find half that many, and with that, then, my list of the top five Browns quarterbacks not named Otto Graham will appear in my next post.
