From Bernie to the Present: 40 Years of Watching Browns QBs Take Flight

It was the summer of 1985 and the Browns had the hottest rookie quarterback in the land in Bernie Kosar.

Media people showed up at the first availability to see him practice, being in awe at the Boardnan High School and Miami (Fla.) product whose photo had just graced the cover of Sports Illustrated with the accompanying title, “Banking On Bernie.”

Yes, the Browns — and fans of the team everywhere — were indeed leaning heavily, fully, completely on him from moment he was taken No. 1 overall in the 1985 NFL Supplrnental Draft.

Ok, here we go. Let’s watch him throw.

As the media members watched that, their jaws dropped — and not in a good way at all.

His passes were too low, too high, too far left, too far right, everywhere but on target.

Ugh.

When they went back to write their stories, the media members documented all the errant throws.

Indeed, that documentation was the story.

We flash forward exactly 40 years to the current Browns training camp in which, when not facing some health hate, four quarterbacks, including two rookies in Dillon Gabriel and Shadeur Sanders, are in an open competition for the starting job.

The media people present are once again charting their every throw, much to the disbelief of other media people — and fans — who treat it like it’s some kind of comedic routine.

They ask with a sarcastic laugh, “What in the world they are doing?”

Well, they’re doing what they should be doing, reporting on what they see. Anything else would be a dereliction of duty.

READ NEXT: The Best Cleveland Browns Jerseys for 2025