A first-round pick out of Texas in the 1989 draft, Metcalf went on to electrify the Browns offense, and Cleveland's fans, for the next six seasons. He totaled 2,229 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground, and another 2,732 yards and 15 TDs on 297 receptions. It was his versatility as a runner or receiver out of the backfield that cemented his standing as one of the Browns' best all-time backs. Metcalf carved out a solid reputation as an elusive and efficient kick returner as well.
With the NFL draft still nearly three months away, many pundits feel the Cleveland Browns will select a wide receiver or defensive lineman with their first pick, the sixth overall in the draft.
Ridenour's early pick between the two, who are both juniors:
On defense, the Browns have a few young players to build around in nose tackle Ahtyba Rubin, cornerback Joe Haden and safety T.J. Ward. But the defensive line last season was old and racked by injuries. There is still no one who scares quarterbacks on a weekly basis. The Browns' sack leader was undrafted Marcus Benard, a situational player who started only two games. In 2010, the Browns went sackless in three in the six division games. They amassed seven sacks in the six games, but four came Oct. 3 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Imagine how much better Rubin could look with a stud pass-rusher alongside him. Imagine the Browns finally finding someone who can get to Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Imagine someone who can toss left tackles aside. So in my mind, a No. 1 receiver can wait. At the moment, I'm all in for Quinn.
It wasn't always pretty, and in his final year Lewis limped to the end of his career. Nonetheless, the bruising back averaged more than 900 yards a season during his three years in Cleveland. The only other running back in team history to do that was Jim Brown. Lewis scored 13 touchdowns in the orange and brown, and added two more through the air. Remarkably, in three seasons Lewis fumbled only six times. He average 3.9 yards per attempt and at times carried the Browns during some lean quarterbacking years. His time in Cleveland was brief but effective. Had he played longer in the orange and brown, he would have ranked higher, but it's appropriate to include him here.
Not many teams in the league in today's world would be interested in a lineman that made up to 7.4 million dollars when he only recorded 17 tackles. He did play in 15 games, but barely; making several guest appearances at the line of scrimmage when the game was on the line. He may have lost significant value from his 2008 Pro Bowl season, but really does not fit into the Brown's future plans. Ahtyba Rubin has the nose tackle spot locked up for the foreseeable future. If the Browns are offered anything as low as a third round pick, that should get GM Tom Heckert to bite.
The Cleveland Browns haven't made any commitments stating that quarterback Colt McCoy is their starter going forward following an encouraging rookie campaign.
However, Browns team president Mike Holmgren told ESPN Chicago that the hire of coach Pat Shurmur wasn't coincidental. It was at least partially because of McCoy.
“I hired Pat because I think we have a good young quarterback, and I wanted an offensive-minded head coach," Holmgren said. "It pretty much boiled down to that. And, I wanted one familiar with the system I was familiar with.”
It's the strongest statement Holmgren has made yet where he's indicated that McCoy is a big part of the future.
Ozzie Newsome, nicknamed "The Wizard of Oz", is the Browns all-time leader in receiving yards and perhaps the team's best receiver in history.
Newsome played 13 seasons with Cleveland from 1978 - 1990, a rare example of a player who spent his whole career with the same team in an era where that was no longer par for the course.
Newsome was an All-Pro in 1979 and 1984 and a three time Pro Bowler. His 7,980 reception yards are the most by any Browns player in history, and was the highest total for any tight end in NFL history at the time of Newsome's retirement.
Newsome also had 662 career receptions and 47 career touchdowns. He caught passes in 150 consecutive games (the longest streak in the NFL at the time), and won the Ed Block Courage Award in 1986 for playing through injuries.
Perhaps most impressive, Newsome almost never fumbled. He had just three fumbles in his entire career, and zero after his third year in the league, leaving him with 10 straight seasons without a single one.
Newsome, not just the greatest pass receiver in Browns history but arguably the greatest tight end of all time, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Think about next year's draft and how high the Cleveland Browns' draft pick will be. Just keep hoping that we lose the rest of the season so we don't screw that up too.
The first Browns quarterback to throw for more than 3,000 yards in a season was Brian Sipe in 1979.
ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. is convinced the Browns will use the sixth overall pick to select one of three players.
In Kiper's first mock draft of the year, he predicted the Browns will select University of Georgia junior wide receiver A.J. Green. But in a national conference call Wednesday, Kiper explained why he believes Clemson University junior defensive end Da'Quan Bowers and University of North Carolina junior defensive end Robert Quinn are also possibilities to end up with the Browns in April's draft.
''I think Quinn or Green would be the guys, and if Bowers happened to slide that far, that's a no-brainer,'' Kiper said. ''You'd take Bowers, but Bowers figures to go earlier.
''I think it's pretty easy to project the Cleveland Browns right now. In terms of what they need and the players that will be there, A.J. Green and Robert Quinn would be the two most viable candidates.''
Kiper labeled the 6-foot-4, 275-pound Bowers as ''the best pure pass rusher on the board'' and predicted the Cincinnati Bengals will take him at No. 4. According to Kiper's projections, Green and Quinn will be available at No. 6.
Kiper acknowledged some teams might shy away from selecting a wide receiver in the top 10. Still, he said the 6-foot-4, 212-pound Green is worthy. On the other hand, the 6-foot-5, 268-pound Quinn might have been a top-three pick if he had not been forced to sit out this past season for receiving improper benefits from an agent.
''It's not like you're taking [Green] at No. 1 overall or No. 2,'' Kiper said. ''You're getting him at six. I don't see the fear at six. Now if you feel like, 'OK, we've got to get that pass rusher,' Robert Quinn could be a tremendous pass rusher in the NFL. I mean this kid was unbelievable two years ago.''
Quinn, in theory, could help the Browns switch to a 4-3 defense. But would Green be able to thrive in coach Pat Shurmur's West Coast offense?
''Green can play anywhere,'' Kiper said. . . . ''He's an angular kid. He can beat you vertically, good route runner, made some tough catches in traffic and took hits and didn't give up the football. . . . A.J. Green, to me, is the best receiver in this draft for that reason.''
If Kiper is right and the Browns select Green, at least one player will support the decision.
''We need a big-time playmaker,'' Browns tight end Benjamin Watson wrote Wednesday in a chat with fans on ESPN.com. ''We need someone who can help us score points. . . . A.J. is a dynamic player, and I'd welcome him.''
The great Paul Warfield, drafted by the Browns in 1964, may be the franchise's greatest receiver of all time.
Warfield's numbers are impressive: 5,210 career yards, 271 receptions, and 52 touchdowns with the Browns, and and an additional 3,355 yards, 156 receptions, and 33 TDs during a five-year hiatus from the Browns with Miami in the middle of his 13-year career. He also had a 20.1 YPG career average.
What is perhaps more impressive about Warfield than his stats though is how much impact he had on a given game just by being on the field. His presence forced defenses to make adjustments and allowed him to draw double coverage, clearing a path for the legendary Jim Brown's ground game.
Warfield was one of the fastest receivers in the game at the time, was a huge long-ball threat, and also an excellent blocker.
A six-time All-NFL team player and an eight-time Pro Bowl selectee, Warfield was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Jim Brown rushed for more 100 yard games than any other player during the 1960s with 39. Another Browns player, Leroy Kelly, was tied for third on that list with 20.
Other general managers around the NFL expect the Cleveland Browns to hire Bill Musgrave shortly for their offensive coordinator job. Several teams that are interested in Musgrave, who was the Atlanta Falcons' quarterbacks coach the previous five seasons and their assistant head coach this past year, don't believe they will have a chance to talk to him at this point. Musgrave interviewed in Cleveland on Tuesday.
Musgrave has vast experience in the West Coast offense, which Browns president Mike Holmgren prefers, and has helped several quarterbacks thrive.
Musgrave has served as a quarterbacks coach for the Washington Redskins (2005) and Oakland Raiders (1997), and he has been an offensive coordinator at several stops, including the Jacksonville Jaguars (2003-04), Carolina Panthers (2000) and Philadelphia Eagles (1998). He also was the offensive coordinator at the University of Virginia for two seasons (2001-02).
New Browns head coach Pat Shurmur will be involved in play-calling, but the team's new offensive coordinator will have some of those duties as well. Quarterback development will be paramount in the job description, with rookie Colt
A favorite target of the great Otto Graham and a disciple of coaching legend Paul Brown, Dante Lavelli had a career that puts him in the running for the greatest Browns receiver of all time.
Lavelli, an end for the Ohio State team before he turned pro (though he only played three games there before leaving to join the U.S. Army), spent his entire 11 year professional career with the Browns from 1946 to 1956.
Known by the illustrative sobriquet "Gluefingers", Lavelli had 6,488 career yards, 386 receptions, and 62 touchdowns.
His best season was his rookie year in 1946, when he had 40 receptions, 843 yards, and an NFL leading 21.1 yards/reception. He went on to be named to the All-AAFC team twice, the All-NFL team twice, and three Pro Bowls.
Lavelli was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1975.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
In 1963, Jim Brown became the first Browns player to ever gain more than 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same game.
Chris Tabor has only three years' NFL experience, but the Browns' new special teams coordinator comes highly recommended from a colleague of new coach Pat Shurmur and General Manager Tom Heckert.
Tabor spent the past three seasons as an assistant under Bears special teams coordinator Dave Toub, who worked with Shurmur and Heckert in Philadelphia from 2001-03.
"I'm very happy for Chris. We all are in the Bears organization," Toub said in a Browns release. "I'm very proud of him. He's a great coach. We're all going to miss him. The coaches, players and staff loved him here. Cleveland's players are going to really like him and respond well to him. He brings a lot to the Browns organization."
Late in the 2010 season, when it became apparent that Tabor would receive other opportunities, Toub told the Chicago Tribune that he understood exactly why.
"He is so ready," Toub said. "I've been in that role, same as him three years as an assistant when I was in Philly. This is his third year and I know how he feels. He's needs to get his own spot. He has the system. He can motivate. He's a great teacher. The guys respect him. It's time."
Tabor, who has worked with Devin Hester -- the NFL's all-time leader in combined kick returns with 14 -- impressed the Browns' new coach.
"I believe that Chris is one of the up-and-coming special teams coaches in this league," Shurmur said in the release. "He's smart, enthusiastic and has a true passion for this area of the game.
"In Chris' three years with the Bears, they consistently boasted one of the best special teams groups in the league, in just about every facet. Having faced them in 2008 and 2009, I know what a challenge it was to go up against their unit. He'll be a valuable addition to our coaching staff."
Tabor has the daunting task of replacing Brad Seely, who took the same position with the 49ers. In 2009, the Browns ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in eight special-team categories.
Tabor goes from working with Hester to Josh Cribbs. Although he's coming off a down year because of a foot injury, Cribbs holds the NFL career record with eight kickoff returns for touchdowns.
During Tabor's three years in Chicago, the Bears ranked in the top five in nine different special-team categories. Over the last three years, Chicago leads the NFL in total return yards (6,570) and kickoff return yards (5,415) and posted the second-best kickoff return average (25.1).
Also during Tabor's tenure, the Bears tied for fifth in the league in punts inside the 20 and tied for seventh in field goal percentage.
Tabor also has helped shape some of the NFL's other top return specialists. In 2008, Danieal Manning led in kickoff return average (29.7). In 2009, Johnny Knox finished second in kickoff return average (29.0) and earned a Pro Bowl selection.
Shurmur now has two of his three coordinator positions filled, with defensive coordinator Dick Jauron being hired last week.
Mac Speedie joined the Browns in 1946, originally as a defensive end. He was quickly converted to left end, and teamed up with fellow end Dante Lavelli to form one of the league's most intimidating receiving duos of the era.
The aptly-named Speedie was a five-time Pro Bowl selectee during his career with the Browns (1946-1952), and racked up 5,602 career yards, an already impressive total which only becomes more so when one considers that he and Lavelli were on the team at the same time.
His best season was in 1947, when he had 67 receptions, 1,146 yards, and six touchdowns. He led the AAFC in receiving yards three times and led the team in receptions during five different seasons.
Speedie was a Hall of Fame finalist in 1970 and 1972, and a senior candidate in 1983, but was never enshrined.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
In 1948, as a member of the All-American Football Conference, the Cleveland Browns would go 14-0 and win the league title.
The Cleveland Browns are occasionally called the Brownies by their fans and used a brownie elf as an official mascot from their beginnings in 1946 until owner Art Modell phased it out in the mid-1960s. It was revived on a limited basis by the Browns since the team returned in 1999. During the 2004 Season, The Brownie appeared on the Team's sideline ponchos and equipment trunks.
And...
The story of Brownie the Elf the logo begins long before the Cleveland Browns adopted the little creature — long before the team even existed, in fact. "Brownies" date back to folklore, where they were elf-like creatures who helped out with household chores as long as you left them little goodies to eat (Palmer Cox was one of the first artists to illustrate Brownie on a consistent basis in his cartoons. He began drawing and using the elves in advertising work that he produced for different companies, including Kodak.
All of which brings us, finally, to the Cleveland Browns.
The association of the elf and the gridiron Browns begins in the late 1940s with Arthur McBride, who was the team's owner at the time. During a string of four incredibly successful seasons from 1946-49 (each of which resulted in an All American Football Conference championship), McBride sought to make his team more recognizable and marketable with music, parades, marching bands, and so on. He also asked for submissions for mascot logos, and after careful consideration chose Brownie as the new face of the team.
Brownie got an update around 1950 and looked like this until 1969. Alternate logos included an orange elf from 1950-69, and a halfback elf from 1960-69. After the Browns won the NFL title in 1964 (yes, it was that long ago, Cleveland fans), Brownie was often depicted with a crown signifying the team's achievement.
Even representatives from the Cleveland Browns are befuddled as to the exact origin, date, and key figures in the creation of the logo (which made its first appearance in an ad for tickets to the 1946 opening game against the Miami Seahawks). However, many of the earliest versions of the elf are credited to Dick Dugan, who became the sports cartoonist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and often depicted Brownie in battle against the team's opponents, like the Broncos.
Cleveland fans loved the athletically inclined little creature with pointed shoes, whose image could be seen adorning various publications and advertisements (from both the team and the public), such as in this 1949 Media Guide.
So, what do you do with a logo that the fans love?
Well, if you're Art Modell, you get rid of it. Apparently, Modell, who became the team's owner in 1961, was completely embarrassed by the elf and hated it so much that in the mid-1960s he began to phase it out. Yes, in addition to taking the team from Cleveland, Modell also was responsible for putting the lovable Brownie on the unemployment line.
Thankfully, when the Browns were resurrected in 1999, Brownie got a new lease on life. New owner Randy Lerner has made a big push to use the elf logo more and more for the organization. "I think it's a great anchor for our tradition and for the look and feel of the Browns," he has said. "But I also understand that there is something to freshening up the act, so I think that's a balancing act we're having right now."
As you can see from the team's sideline ponchos, the organization is using Brownie in more ways than just for merchandise sales (although it's clearly evident from the hats and shirts and fleeces that there is a definite push in that direction too). In fact, the Browns have used the elf logo on the 2006 Training Camp Patch celebrating the franchise's 60th anniversary, and a throwback elf logo appears on the front of their 2006 Media Guide (here's a close-up view). Fans have embraced Brownie, too — one guy has gotten permanent reminder of his allegiances.
While Brownie's revival is welcome news, there's one place that the elf should never appear, on the helmet (and thankfully, Lerner agrees). Paul Brown actually proposed this idea in 1953, but dismissed the idea after seeing mock-ups created by then trainer Leo Murphy. Good thing too, because the only thing that should ever be added to the team's helmets are uniform numbers, like the ones the team wore with for a throwback game against the Bengals.
We're generally pleased with Brownie's reappearance. It adds a great traditional aspect to the team's imagery, which meshes nicely with the more recent addition of the "Dawg" logo
In the early 1950′s, the Browns drafted a defensive back and a linebacker that would both go on to eventually make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame… as coaches. In 1951 they drafted Don Shula and in 1953 they drafted Chuck Noll.
The Browns drafted Ray Renfro in the fourth round of the 1952 draft. He began his career as a punt returner, but would eventually establish himself as a member of the Browns' pantheon of top-notch receivers.
During his career with the Browns from 1952 to 1963, Renfro amassed 5,508 career yards, good for fourth all time in the team's record book.
Renfro's best year came in 1961, when he had 48 receptions, 834 yards, and six touchdowns.
A three-time Pro Bowler, Renfro retired with 50 career touchdowns and 281 receptions with a yards-per-gain average of 19.6. He also boasts four rushing touchdowns and 682 rushing yards in his career.
The Cleveland Browns began as one of the teams in the All-American Football Conference (AAFC) that was a rival of the more established National Football League (NFL).
1962 First Round draft pick Gary Collins racked up 5,299 receiving yards for the Browns from 1962 to 1971.
Though his best season was in 1966 when he had 56 receptions, 946 yards, and 12 touchdowns, Collins' most memorable feat came in the 1964 Championship Game when he pulled down three passes for touchdowns.
Collins holds the team record for career receiving touchdowns (70) and receiving touchdowns in one season (13, 1963).
Perhaps most interesting, Collins was also the team's punter, and a pretty good one to boot (pun intended), averaging a respectable 41.1 yards-per-attempt.
Collins is a member of the Browns Legends, but has never been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, though many argue that he belongs there.
Alex Mack was so excited about being named to the AFC Pro Bowl roster Monday morning that he was flying even before he boarded the afternoon flight to Hawaii.
"I got an email actually. I jumped up and down and ran around the room a couple times," Mack told the team's Web site. "I texted just about everyone that I knew. I called [my parents] this morning. They were really excited. They were fired up and I know my mom's going to try to get a plane ticket out."
Mack, who was added to the roster when the Jets' Nick Mangold was injured in the AFC Championship Game, met up in Hawaii with fellow Pro Bowler Joe Thomas, who received some great news of his own on Monday.
Thomas, a four-time Pro Bowler, won first-team Associated Press All-Pro honors for the second year in a row. It's also the third time in four years he's made the team. Thomas was the leading vote-getter among offensive tackles, with 22 of a possible 50 votes from a national media panel. Miami's Jake Long was second with 21.
Thomas was one of four Browns receiving All-Pro votes. The others were fullback Lawrence Vickers (four), Mack (one) and rookie cornerback Joe Haden (one). Guard Eric Steinbach, a second alternate to the Pro Bowl, did not receive any All-Pro votes.
Mack was a second alternate when the Pro Bowl teams were announced last month. The first alternate, Indianapolis' Jeff Saturday, will replace Steelers' rookie Maurkice Pouncey, who will miss the trip because he's in the Super Bowl. Pouncey also suffered a high ankle sprain in Sunday's victory over the Jets.
"I'm very excited to be able to go to Hawaii," Mack said in a statement from the Browns. "It's unfortunate that Nick had to get injured for me to go, but I'm looking forward to representing the Browns. It has been a lifelong dream for me and from here on, I'm working to make many more. I'm excited to be going and I can't wait to play in this game."
Mack hasn't missed an offensive snap since being drafted 21st overall in 2009. In 2010, he helped spring Peyton Hillis for 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns. He's one of six Browns centers to earn Pro Bowl honors and the first since Tom DeLeone in 1981.
For the first time since the 1981, the Browns will have at least two offensive linemen in the Pro Bowl. That year, guard Joe DeLamielleure, DeLeone and tackle Doug Dieken all represented the Browns.
