The Mount Rushmore of Browns middle guards and nose tackles

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the 13th in a series of stories about the Mount Rushmore-worthy players – the best players – in Browns history. Today we look at middle guards and nose tackles.

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By STEVE KING

Of all the positions, and position areas, thus far in this Mount Rushmore series of great Browns players, middle guards/nose tackles is the toughest – by far – to evaluate.

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Not that the other ones were easy — because they weren’t — but this one was much more so because of the positions themselves. There are some definite issues this time. Middle guard and nose tackle are the same, but they aren’t.

First of all, the middle guard position does not exist anymore in the modern game. It hasn’t existed in almost 70 years. Teams took the middle guard, who played over the center in the five-man defensive fronts that were used for decades in football, and stood him up, moved him back several yards and called him a middle linebacker in a 4-3 alignment.    

But the problem is that the Browns had a Pro Football Hall of Famer there – at middle guard — in Bill Willis. So, then, it would be hard to put together any list of the greatest defensive players in Browns history and not include Willis. It would just be wrong.

As such, Willis, who played for the first eight Browns teams from 1946-53, is on Mount Rushmore.

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So, too, is Bob Golic (1982-88), who was a nose tackle, playing nose-up on the center, in the 3-4 alignment that came into being in the 1980s.

And while we’re at, you can throw two other players onto the Mount Rushmore nose tackle list in Golic’s contemporaries, Michael Dean Perry (1988-94) and “Big Daddy” Carl Hairston (1984-89).

Let’s take a look at them:

MICHAEL DEAN PERRY

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He was the Browns’ second-round pick, at No. 50 overall, in the 1988 NFL Draft out of Clemson. Although Marty Schottenheimer, who was in his last year as head coach, didn’t see eye-to-eye with Perry for whatever reason and played him only sparingly as a rookie in 1988, he blossomed the following year under new head coach Bud Carson. Tremendously quick, the young brother of well-known Chicago Bears defensive tackle William “The Refrigerator” Perry is fourth in team history with 51.5 career sacks and went to five Pro Bowls, tying him with Mount Rushmore defensive tackle Bob Gain for the most by a Browns defensive player. And did we mention that his initials, MDP, became the name for a new sandwich at a well-known fast0food chain?

BOB GOLIC

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A product of Cleveland St. Joseph (now Villa Angela/St. Joseph) High School, he was a second-round draft choice of the New England Patriots in 1979 but never really carved out a niche for himself as a linebacker. The Browns acquired him in 1982, put him at nose tackle and he became an instant hit, so much so that he was picked for three Pro Bowls.

“BIG DADDY” CARL HAIRSTON

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He never made it to the Pro Bowl, which is criminal. He had played eight years with the Philadelphia Eagles by the time he came to the Browns in 1984 and appeared to be near the end of his career. But he found a second life in Cleveland and became an integral part of a defense that performed very well as the club quickly developed into a Super Bowl contender. He had 37.5 career sacks with the Browns.

BILL WILLIS

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A product of Columbus East High School and a member of Ohio Stare’s first national championship team in 1942, he and fullback Marion Motley were the two players who permanently broke the color barrier not just in pro football, but pro sports overall, when they appeared in the Browns’ first-ever regular-season game on Sept. 6, 1946. That they were so good – both are in the Hall of Fame, and Willis made three Pro Bowls – just made them just that much more special.

NEXT: Centers.  

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Cleveland Browns:

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• “Bill Callahan Said Jedrick Willis’ Ability ‘Came Alive’ On Tape” (OBR)
• The Mount Rushmore of Browns defensive ends (Browns Daily Dose)
• “Baker Mayfield hosting teammates for workouts in Texas” (BrownsZone)
• “Virtual period of Browns’ offseason program and that of other NFL clubs extended through May 29” (cleveland.com)
• “James Harrison says Mike Tomlin gave him ‘an envelope’ after $75K fine for helmet-to-helmet hit” (Yahoo! Sports)
• The Mount Rushmore of Browns cornerbacks (Browns Daily Dose)
• “Art Rooney II: ‘No basis’ for believing James Harrison’s claims” (PFT)

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