The best NFL Draft of all-time by the Browns?

That’s easy.

It came in 1957, in what perhaps is the best overall draft in the history of the league.

The Browns got the greatest player in the history of the game, running back Jim Brown of Syracuse, at No. 6 overall. If you can believe it, he was a Plan B pick for head coach Paul Brown, who wanted quarterback Len Dawson of Alliance High School and Purdue, but had to settle for Brown after the Pittsburgh Steelers plucked Dawson away at No. 5.

And then later, in the seventh round at No. 72, the Browns found a tremendous pulling guard — maybe the best ever — who would open holes for Brown, especially on sweeps, in Gene Hickerson of Mississippi.

Folks, with two Pro Football Hall of Famers, including the greatest of them all, it doesn’t get much better than that.

The second-best Browns draft of all-time occurred seven years later, in 1964, when they chose two more Hall of Famers. In a draft reminiscent of the one in 1957, the Browns took two-way back Paul Warfield of Warren Harding High School and Ohio State, near the top of the draft, in the first round, at No. 11, and then Morgan State running back Leroy Kelly 99 selections later, in eighth round at No. 110.

Like a lot of players back then, Warfield played both offense and defense for the Buckeyes. When he came to training camp at Hiram college, head coach Blanton Collier tried him first on defense and then realized that he needed to go over and work with the offense exclusively, not as a running back, though, as a wide receiver. It was another genius move by a genius in Colliee, who doesn’t get nearly the praise he deserves.

As for Kelly, he spent his first two seasons returning kicks, but when Brown retired just before the start of training camp in 1966, leaving behind a huge void, he assured Collier and Browns owner Modell that they would be just fine with Kelly taking his place. He was right. 

Finally, in 1978, there’s the third-best draft in team history. In head coach Sam Rutigliano’s first draft, the Browns, just 11 spots apart in the first round, got a Hall of Famer in tight end Ozzie Newsone of Alabama (No. 23) and a player who should be in the Hall in Southern Cal linebacker Clay Matthews (12).

Newsome changed the way the game was played by being the first tight end who could run downfield and make plays in the passing game. That is, he was a wide receiver in a tight end’s body. In Matthews, the Browns got a three-down player, someone who was outstanding rushing the passer, defending the run and dropping back into th pass coverage. There was no need to ever take him
off the field, and the Browns didn’t.

The Browns are not going to have a draft this year to rival any of the three mentioned here. General Manager Andrew Berry doesn’t particularly care for first-round draft choices, for whatever reason. Oh, well. If he can figure out the rest of the draft past the first round, I guess that’s OK.

Steve King