EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2025 NFL Draft is right around the corner. This is Part 4 of a series on the five most impactful NFL Drafts in Browns history. Today we look at 1971.

The goal of any team in any year in the NFL Draft is to pick not just a lot of really good players, but also ones who will play a really long time.

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That’s right, quality and quantity. It’s the perfect combination, for it is one of the building blocks of success, in pro football as in life.

The Browns hit the target right in the dead center of the bullseye not just once or even twice, but rather three times, in th 1971 draft.

It came with the selection of cornerback Clarence Scott of Kansas State in the first round, at No. 14 overall, then Houston outside linebacker Charlie Hall in the third round and finally Illinois left tackle Doug Dieken in the sixth round.

Scott played first cornerback and then safety in a 13-year career, Hall spent 10 seasons with the team and Dieken’s career spanned 14 seasons. Add together the length of their careers and it’s 37 seasons. And all of them performed at a high level throughout their time in Cleveland.

Scott was one of the top corners in the AFC for his first eight seasons, matching up against the opponent’s top wide receiver each and every week. But what he did in his final five seasons might have been even more important, and memorable, as it proved what a consummate pro he was. It also saved the team in the most important season of his career, and the most important season in the hearts and minds of many longtime Browns fans, even to this day.

Following the 1978 season, his first year as Browns head coach, Sam Rutigliano told Scott that he was being moved to safety. That’s something that a corner never wants to hear, because it means he is slowing down, losing some of his speed and skill set. Scott did not like it one bit. A quarter-century earlier, in the early 1950s, Tommy James had the same reaction when then Browns head coach Paul Brown, who also was his coach at Massillon High School and Ohio State, asked him to move from corner to safety for the same reason. So even back in Scott’s time, it was nothing new. But it is hard, and painful. It’s called pride and having to give in to Father Time.

After Rutigliano had a long talk with Scott about it, explaining that it would benefit the team by having a player in the back end of the defense who had his great coverage skills. It took a while for Scott to chew on it and process it, but he finally agreed to do it.

“He was great about it, a real pro’s pro,” Rutigliano said. “Everyone on the team already respected him a lot. After what he did, they had just that much more respect for him.”

The position switch came into play big-time in that wonderful roller-coaster ride that was the Browns’ Kardiac Kids season of 1980. The Browns and Houston Oilers, the forerunners of the Tennessee Titans, were in a dead-heat atop the AFC Central when they met in a late-season game at the Astrodome. The winner would have the edge down the stretch by virtue of tie-breakers. The Browns were clinging to a 17-14 lead late in the fourth quarter as the Oilers put together one last drive, steadily moving the ball down the field as they tried to tie the score or even take the lead. All game long, including on the previous play when it went for a big-gainer into Cleveland territory, quarterback Ken Stabler had hurt the Browns with passes to his favorite target, tight end Dave Casper, his old buddy from their heyday seasons playing together with the Oakland Raiders. They had already connected for seven receptions covering 150 yards on the day, including a 30-yarder in the third quarter for the Oilers’ only touchdown as they cut their deficit to just three.

The Oilers thought they could throw that pass against the Browns whenever they wanted to, as evidenced by Casper’s numbers, so with the clock winding down and time being of the essence, Stabler brazenly and confidently went to him again on the very next play with the very same route. This time, though, Scott was waiting for it, hiding in the coverage to keenly bait Stabler and trick him into thinking that Casper was wide open. Scott appeared out of nowhere to stretch and grab the ball as he hit the ground to preserve this important victory. Of his 39 career interceptions, which place him third in team history, this was unquestionably the biggest. His teammates were thrilled that they won the game, but they were almost as happy that it was because of the heroics of a man they so valued.

As for Hall, he was like Scott in that he was quiet and unassuming. His speed, athleticism and nose for the ball made him stand out.

Dieken had played tight end at Illinois and was a pretty good one, in fact, setting a school record for catches at that position. He was hopeful he would be able to play tight end with the Browns after they drafted him. But his hopes were dashed when he reported to thenm and saw there was a 73 — a lineman’s number — on his jersey.

It was a good move for everyone involved. The Browns already had a tight end in Milt Morin. What they needed was a left tackle to replace Dick Schafrath, the Wooster High School and Ohio State product who was at the end of a Pro Football Hall of Fame-worthy 13-year career. Before Schafrath, there was, tracing back to the beginning of the Browns, Hall of Famer Lou Groza of Martins Ferry High School and Ohio State playing left tackle. Dieken continued that legacy, being an ironman in the process by setting career team records for consecutive games played and consecutive starts.

Once he retired, Dieken spent 35 years as the color analyst on Browns radio broadcasts and also three more as a goodwill ambassador for the team when the original franchise moved to Baltimore. In all, he was part of the organization for a whoppping 52 years, by far a Browns record. The only person who comes close is the late, great Dick Goddard, who assisted Dieken, and others, in the radio booth as the statistician on broadcasts for 44 years.

If you add Dieken’s additional 38 years to the career lengths of Scott and Hall, their combined service total soars to 75.

As Hall of Fame head coach Bill Parcells used to say, “Your ability is your availability.”

And way back when, more than a half-century ago, in 1971, the Browns drafted a whole lot of ability.

Steve King