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Browns head coach Paul Brown went to Syracuse to get running back Jim Brown, taking him in the first round, at No. 6 overall, in the 1957 NFL Draft.

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And, in his dual role as general manager, Paul Brown determined that the best place to get Jim Brown’s running mate for that big backfield that he wanted was, once more, Syracuse. The player’s name was Ernie Davis. He was, by all accounts, seemingly the perfect fit, literally and figuratively.

Davis was nearly the same size as Jim Brown, and at a comparable skill level, having broken almost all of Brown’s records at Syracuse on the way to be becoming the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy as a senior during the 1961 season.

Davis was selected No. 1 overall by the then Washington Redskins in the 1962 NFL Draft. He fulfilled their two biggest wants and needs, integrating the roster and adding top-shelf offensive skill-position talent.

For a player of that kind, the asking price was, not surprisingly, extremely steep. Washington wanted Mitchell, who was also Black and talented.

Brown had no problem making that blockbuster deal, because the type of player Mitchell was — a scatback who relied on speed and moves —did not fit what the coach was convinced he had to have to get his offense, and the team overall, to the place he needed them to be to win the Eastern Conference.

So the trade was made, the Browns got the rights to Davis, who was not yet signed, and Washington got Mitchell.

From that point on, though, things went horribly downhill — to a historic extent — for all the involved parties in Cleveland.

Steve King

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