I saw a story the other day about the Browns kicking situation that discussed what was termed the Phil Dawson Curse.

There is no such thing.

Rather, it is the Joe Banner Curse.

It was Banner, then the president of the Browns, who decided to let Dawson walk into free agency after 2012 season. Dawson was one of the best kickers in the game at the time, and is arguably the best kicker in Browns history. Yet Banner, who had no idea what he was doing, just as he had no idea what he was doing when he was running the Philadelphia Eagles, didn’t even discuss money or a contract with Dawson. He knew better, or so he thought.

The Browns have struggled mightily at kicker since then, and that is something I’ve written about in the space many, many, many times. Now everybody else is catching up to that and looking back over that 10 years.

But what they are missing is that it had everything to do with Banner, for Dawson went on to have several good seasons after he left Cleveland. Those could’ve been good seasons for the Browns, and they could have gradually moved his successor into his role once he retired.

But Banner, who is unquestionably the worst president in Browns history, even worse than Mike Holmgren, and that’s pretty bad, messed it all up.

The Browns have had five iconic kickers in their history, all one right after the other, beginning with Lou Groza in 1946 and going all the way until 2012 with Dawson. It took a knucklehead like Joe Banner to end all that. The Browns have been digging out of it ever since.

By Steve King