EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2025 NFL Draft is right around the corner. This is Part 3 of a series on the five most impactful drafts in Browns history. Today we look at 1964.

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There are those who can see things that most others can’t.

Two former members of the Browns, head coach Blanton Collier and running back Jim
Brown, were such people.

And because of their special abilities, the Browns, in the 1964 NFL Draft, were able to add two more players to their list of Pro Football Hall of Famers in Paul
Warfield and Leroy Kelly. Along with that, the players’ arrival set the Browns up to win the 1964 NFL championship and to continue their legacy of great tinning backs.

Warfield, from Warren Harding High School and Ohio State, was taken in the first round, at No. 11 overall. He had excelled for the Buckeyes in both football, where he was a two-way back, and in track as a sprinter. Pass catching, especially as a wide receiver, in the pros did not seem to be a possibility because Ohio State rarely threw the ball under head coach Woody Hayes.

When Warfield reported to the Browns, Collier first had him at cornerback. After a while, the coach told him, “Go over and work with the receivers.” Warfield never went back. He had found a home.

Warfield was an immediate star, and as such took the offense to an even higher level. Just as the Browns had two good runners in Brown and Ernie Green, they now had two good receivers with Warfield joining Gary Collins. With the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts keeping an eye on the runners and on Warfield in the 1964 title game, it left Collins on one-on-one coverage all day and he really made them pay for it by catching three touchdown passes from quarterback Frank Ryan in the rousing 27-0 victory.

As for Kelly, he almost exclusively returned punts and kickoffs in 1964 and ‘65. He played little as a running back. When Brown suddenly and unexpectedly retired just before the start of training camp in 1966, team officials went into full-blown panic mode. The Browns in the early days had a Hall of Fame back in Marion Motley, and then he was followed by another Hall of Famer in Brown. Now there appeared to be no one to follow him.

“Don’t worry, Leroy will do just fine in my place,” Brown assured Collier.

He was right. Just like Warfield had done two years earlier, Kelly excelled right from the start in the 1966 season and never looked back as the offense just kept rolling.

Steve King