The Mount Rushmore of Browns outside linebackers – Clay Matthews also belongs in the HOF

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the 10th in a series of stories about the Mount Rushmore-worthy players – the best players – in Browns history. Today we look at outside linebackers.

By STEVE KING

There are three sure-fire, no doubt-about-it men to put onto the Mount Rushmore of Browns outside linebackers.

They are Walt Michaels (1952-61), Jim Houston (1960-72) and Clay Matthews (1978-93). None of these names should be a surprise at all to anyone. They are clearly deserving of such an honor.

WALT MICHAELS

Embed from Getty Images

Michaels, who was taken by Browns with the latter of two seventh-round picks, at No. 86 overall, in the 1951 NFL Draft out of tiny Washington & Lee, was traded to the Green Bay Packers for his rookie season and dealt back to Cleveland in 1952. He immediately became a starter, mostly at right linebacker, over the next 10 years and became a fixture on great but appreciated defenses. He intercepted 11 passes, including four in his first season of 1952, and returned two for touchdowns. Being that he made the Pro Bowl four times, tied for the most by a Browns linebacker, and he played on those great Cleveland teams of the 1950s, he is a true Pro Football Hall of Fame candidate.

JIM HOUSTON

Houston and his older brother, Lin Houston, a starting guard on the first eight Browns teams from 1946-53, are both products of Massillon High School and Ohio State. They are the only brother duo to play for the Browns. Like Michaels, a four-time Pro Bowler who played on great teams, Jim Houston, drafted at No. 8 overall in 1960, is another long-ago Brown who should get HOF consideration. Houston was a starter at left defensive end, with Michaels the starter at right linebacker, in 1960 and ’61 before being converted to left linebacker. He intercepted 14 passes in his career, three of which he returned for touchdowns, including two in 1967.

CLAY MATTHEWS

Embed from Getty Images

There’s a strong sentiment that Matthews belongs in the Hall. Whether that ever happens is left to be determined, but if Browns fans had a say in the matter, then he’d already be in there. Along with two of his teammates, Mount Rushmore cornerbacks Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield, he might be in the HOF if the Browns had gotten to the Super Bowl and he had gotten that much-needed national exposure. Selected in the first round, at No. 12 overall, out of USC in the Browns’ great 1978 draft that also saw them take HOF tight end Ozzie Newsome 11 spots later, Matthews got off to a tough start by fracturing his ankle in training camp as a rookie but still managed to share the starting right linebacker job with Gerald Irons that year before taking over full-time in 1979 and remaining there for the next decade and a half. Along with Houston and Michaels, he went to four Pro Bowls. and he is the Browns’ career sacks leader with 76.5. He was an ironman, too, holding Browns records for most consecutive seasons (16) and most games played (232) over his 16 seasons in Cleveland. OK, so, in looking at all that, why is Matthews not in the Hall? I don’t know, either.               

Now, what happens with that fourth Mount Rushmore spot for Browns outside linebackers? As mentioned previously, the two candidates are Chip Banks (1982-86) and Galen Fiss (1956-66). Which one gets the nod?

They both do.

Embed from Getty Images

I know that sounds like a copout – I certainly get that  — but here’s the problem: I can’t leave out Banks, who made the Pro Bowl four times in his five seasons, had 27.5 sacks and might have gotten into the Hall of Fame had he played longer instead of zoning out, forcing the Browns to trade him to the Indianapolis Colts in 1987, nor can I leave out Fiss, who made it to two Pro Bowls and made the biggest play of the day – and also the biggest one in Browns history since 1955 (see related story) — when the Cleveland last won the NFL title in 1964.

So, then, both Fiss and Banks are being put onto Mount Rushmore, expanding it to accommodate five players, not four. It couldn’t be helped.     

NEXT: Defensive ends.

Cleveland Browns

• “Going Solo: The younger Ajayi on the Cleveland Browns, brother Jay, and Nigerians in the NFL” (ESPN)
• “The more tight ends the merrier for the Browns offense” (WFNY)
• “Grant Delpit excited to join ‘LSU of the North,’ play with former Tigers in Cleveland” (Browns.com)
• “Reverse jinxing the Cleveland Browns into the 2020 NFL playoffs” (cleveland.com)
• “Browns Re-Sign WR Higgins After Stunted 2019 Season” (AP)
• The ‘Corner Brothers’ (Browns Daily Dose)
• “Browns open as 9-point underdog to Ravens in 2020 opener” (WKYC)
• Missing Cleveland Stadium (Browns Daily Dose)
• “Baker Mayfield says Browns are ‘putting the right pieces together’ during virtual offseason program” (Browns.com) 
• “Cleveland Browns, COVID-19 and 2020 NFL schedule” (Crowquill)