The Greatest Cleveland Browns Players of All Time
With no logo on a Cleveland Browns helmet, the men who wore it are the whole story in a vote on the franchise's greatest players. Every player here is named on at least 5 of the 13 Browns honor rolls and all-time rankings counted for this list: the team's honor roll (Ring of Honor, Legends and retired numbers, as one), the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and eleven press rankings. Players left off no more than three of the sources that could have named them start in the top group; everyone else who clears the door starts below them, and your votes set the order from there.
Otto Graham is #1 on “The Greatest Cleveland Browns Players of All Time”.
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Otto Graham
In the 1954 NFL Championship Game he ran for 3 touchdowns and passed for 3 more, and Cleveland beat Detroit 56-10. He was the Browns' quarterback from 1946 through 1955, and in 1953, the season before that rout, he finished as the NFL's leading passer and was United Press's NFL Player of the Year, an honor it also gave him for 1951 and 1955. The AAFC had named him its MVP for 1947 and had him share the 1948 award with Frankie Albert; from 1947 to 1949 he also led that league in passing yards, and Cleveland later retired his number 14. You'll find him on all 13 sources counted for this list.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Graham - 2
Joe Thomas
Every offensive snap of Cleveland's 2007 season was his, and in that rookie year he also made the Pro Bowl and finished 2nd to Adrian Peterson in rookie of the year voting. The Browns had drafted him 3rd overall in 2007, and he played tackle for them through 2017 without missing a snap until a triceps injury on October 22 of that year stopped his run at 10,363. Pro Bowl invitations arrived every year from 2007 to 2016, and 6 of those seasons also ended in first-team All-Pro selection. Cleveland never reached the playoffs while he was there, and 2016's 1-15 record was the league's worst. He retired in March 2018 and went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the class of 2023, his first year on the ballot. His count is 13 for 13.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Thomas_(offensive_tackle) - 3
Lou Groza
With 28 seconds left in the 1950 NFL Championship Game, his 16-yard field goal edged the Rams 30-28 and gave Cleveland its first NFL title, in the club's first year in that league. His Browns career covered 21 seasons, 1946 to 1959 and 1961 to 1967, as an offensive tackle as well as the kicker, and he sat out 1960. Field goals made: he topped the NFL 5 times, and in 1953 he hit 23 of them at an 88.5 percent rate. He retired holding NFL career records in points, field goals and extra points, with 8 league championships behind him, half of them won in the AAFC. Every one of the 13 sources names him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Groza - 4
Jim Brown
Against the Los Angeles Rams on November 24, 1957, the 9th game of his rookie year, he ran for 237 yards, the league's single-game mark at the time, in a 45-31 win at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. He played 9 seasons in Cleveland, 1957 to 1965, and won the NFL rushing title in 8 of them. He was the league's MVP in 1957, 1958 and 1965, was a Pro Bowler in each of his 9 seasons, gained 1,863 yards in 1963 and averaged 5.2 yards a carry over his career. In July 1966, at 30 and filming a movie in England, he retired instead of returning for a 10th season, and the Browns later retired his number 32. All 13 sources include him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Brown - 5
Ozzie Newsome
A 191-yard receiving game in 1984 gave him a franchise record that lasted 29 years, until Josh Gordon broke it in 2013. Cleveland had taken him 23rd overall in 1978, and he played tight end for 13 Browns seasons, through 1990. He finished with 662 catches and 7,980 receiving yards, then Browns records and the highest totals any NFL tight end had reached by his retirement. Known as the Wizard of Oz, he was voted first-team All-Pro at tight end in 1979 and 1984, played in Pro Bowls after the 1981, 1984 and 1985 seasons, and once his playing days ended had a second career as a front-office executive. He's named on 12 of the 13 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozzie_Newsome - 6
Clay Matthews Jr.
Buffalo was at the Cleveland 11 with seconds to go in a January 6, 1990, playoff game, and he intercepted Jim Kelly at the 1-yard line to close out the win. Linebacker was his job for the Browns for 16 seasons, 1978 through 1993, and Pro Bowl selection came 4 times, in 1985 and then from 1987 to 1989. In 1984 he had 12 sacks, and the Browns, who had drafted him 12th overall, later put his name up in their Ring of Honor. Of the 13 sources counted, 12 list him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Matthews_Jr. - 7
Leroy Kelly
1968 was his season: a 2nd straight NFL rushing title, with 1,239 yards, plus 16 rushing touchdowns, 4 more as a receiver and a touchdown in 12 different games, then a franchise record. The Browns' 8th-round choice in 1964, he spent all 10 of his seasons with them, through 1973. In 1965 he was the NFL's leading punt returner, and he became the starting back when Jim Brown retired before the 1966 season. His first rushing title, in 1967, came with 1,205 yards. Between 1966 and 1971 he played in 6 Pro Bowls, and every one of those years except 1970 put him on All-Pro teams. He shows up on 11 of the 13 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leroy_Kelly - 8
Paul Warfield
As a rookie wide receiver in 1964 he caught 52 passes for 920 yards and 9 touchdowns, and the season ended with a 27-0 win over Baltimore for the NFL title. Cleveland had drafted him 11th overall that year with some thought of using him at defensive back, and he was a Brown from 1964 to 1969 and again in 1976 and 1977. Pro Bowl trips came in 1964, 1968 and 1969, the 1968 trip after a season of 50 catches for 1,067 yards, a career high in yards. Cleveland traded him to Miami for the pick it used on Mike Phipps, and after a year in the World Football League, Art Modell talked him into finishing as a Brown. He's listed on 10 of the 13 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Warfield - 9
Myles Garrett
His 23rd sack of 2025, in the regular-season finale against Cincinnati, broke the NFL single-season record of 22.5. That was his 9th and last season in Cleveland, where he had gone 1st overall in the 2017 draft, and AP voters again rated him the NFL's top defender, as in 2023. His Browns years brought 7 Pro Bowls plus first-team All-Pro placement in 5 seasons, and his 125.5 sacks were the franchise record as of his last Browns game. The Rams traded for him on June 1, 2026. He's on 8 of the 12 sources that could have named him, since a player is not eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame while he is active.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myles_Garrett - 10
Marion Motley
Against Pittsburgh in October 1950 he gained 188 yards on 11 carries, and his average of better than 17 a rush that day was an NFL record for more than 52 years, until Michael Vick beat it in 2002. He played fullback and linebacker for Cleveland from 1946 to 1953 and was known as a strong pass blocker as well as a runner. He was the AAFC's rushing leader in 1948 and the NFL's in 1950 with 810 yards, and he played on 5 Browns championship teams. He and Bill Willis joined Cleveland in 1946 as 2 of the first Black players in pro football's modern era, the same year the Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington and Woody Strode. He appears on 9 of 13 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Motley - 11
Gene Hickerson
As soon as he arrived in 1958, Cleveland moved him from tackle to guard to use his speed, and that rookie year he began among Paul Brown's messenger guards, running plays into the huddle. He was the Browns' guard from 1958 to 1973, except for 1961, which a broken leg in the preseason opener took from him, and after missing 2 games in 1962 he never missed another. He led the blocking for Jim Brown, Bobby Mitchell and Leroy Kelly, and once Brown retired he collected first-team All-Pro mentions 5 straight years, 1966 to 1970, with 6 Pro Bowls in all. He started at right guard in 4 NFL title games, the 1964 win over Baltimore among them. His name turns up on 7 of the 13 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Hickerson - 12
Dante Lavelli
They called him Gluefingers, and he joined Cleveland in 1946 after Army service that put him in the Battle of the Bulge. He played end there through 1956, and in his first season he topped the AAFC with 843 receiving yards, then caught the winning touchdown in the 14-9 championship game against the AAFC's New York Yankees, the first of 7 titles in his Cleveland career. In the 1950 title win over Los Angeles he caught 11 passes, a championship-game record then, 2 of them for touchdowns, and his Pro Bowl total came to 3. Of the 13 sources counted here, 6 have him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Lavelli - 13
Bill Willis
Quickness made up for his size at middle guard, where he lined up for Cleveland's defense across 8 seasons, 1946 to 1953. In the fourth quarter of a 1950 playoff with the Giants, Gene Roberts broke loose after a catch and looked gone, and Willis caught up with him from behind to save a touchdown in what ended as an 8-3 Cleveland win, the step before that season's NFL title. He gained first-team All-Pro notice 6 times, played in 3 Pro Bowls and collected 5 championship rings. His debut for the Browns, in September 1946, came months before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. The tally for him is 6 of the 13 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Willis - 14
Len Ford
Cleveland got him from the folded Los Angeles Dons in the 1950 AAFC dispersal draft, and in that season's title game against the Rams, Paul Brown sent him in when the Browns needed a stop. He made 3 in a row: a reverse thrown for a 14-yard loss, a sack of Bob Waterfield and a smothered end run by Glenn Davis. He did it in a special mask, because in October 1950, his first season as a Browns defensive end, an elbow from Pat Harder had broken his nose, cheekbone and upper jaw. Paul Brown said Ford showed him that day he really was a man. He stayed at end for Cleveland through 1957, with 4 Pro Bowl seasons, 1951 to 1954, in which he also held first-team All-Pro slots. Ford is named on 6 of the 13 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Ford - 15
Dick Schafrath
In 1964 he started all 14 games at left tackle, guarding the quarterback's blind side and opening holes for Jim Brown, and Cleveland finished it with the 27-0 title win over Baltimore. A 2nd-round pick in 1959 who arrived at 220 pounds, he took up weight lifting, new and unpopular then, was at 270 within a year, and played 13 seasons for the Browns, through 1971. The AP placed him on its first-team All-Pro roster for 1963, 1964 and 1965, and he appeared in 6 Pro Bowls from 1963 to 1968, a run that included those 3 All-Pro years. Away from football he canoed across Lake Erie without stopping and served in the Ohio Senate from 1987 to 2000. He died in 2021, at 84. Look for him on 7 of the 13 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Schafrath - 16
Bernie Kosar
Raised in Boardman, near Youngstown, he said he wanted to play for the Browns, and in 1985 Cleveland traded picks to Buffalo for the right to take him in the supplemental draft. He quarterbacked Cleveland from 1985 into 1993. In the playoffs after the 1986 season he threw for 489 yards, then a postseason record, as the Browns came back to beat the Jets 23-20 in double overtime. His teams got within a game of the Super Bowl 3 times, after the 1986, 1987 and 1989 seasons, and Denver won all 3 of those AFC title games. He made the 1987 Pro Bowl, and when Cleveland released him in 1993, its fans pushed back hard. He's on 6 of the 13 counted sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Kosar - 17
Hanford Dixon
The Dawg Pound got its name from him: his barking at teammates, Frank Minnifield above all, carried over to the fans' section at the old Municipal Stadium. Cleveland had used the 22nd selection in 1981 on him, and he covered receivers in Cleveland through 1989, his whole career. In 1986 he intercepted 5 passes in 16 starts and won first-team All-Pro acclaim, which came again in 1987, with Pro Bowls in 1986, 1987 and 1988, and the Browns' 1986 and 1987 seasons both ended in AFC title games. He finished with 26 interceptions for 225 yards, every one of them for Cleveland, and the Browns made him a Legend. Of the 13 sources counted for this list, he's on 6.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Dixon - 18
Mike McCormack
His first season in Cleveland, 1954, ended in the NFL Championship Game against Detroit, where he grabbed the ball out of quarterback Bobby Layne's hands for a fumble recovery that set up an early touchdown. Paul Brown had traded with Baltimore for him before that 1954 season, after a rookie year with the New York Yanks and Army service in the Korean War. He played defense that first year, moved to offensive tackle in 1955 and stayed through 1962, with All-Pro honors every season from 1954 on. Paul Brown wrote that he considered him the finest offensive tackle who ever played pro football. His total is 5 of the 13 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_McCormack_(American_football) - 19
Frank Minnifield
He walked on at Louisville, went undrafted in 1983 and played in the USFL for the Chicago Blitz, later the Arizona Wranglers, before the Browns signed him as a free agent in 1984. Cornerback was his job in Cleveland from then through 1992, and in a playoff game against Indianapolis on January 9, 1988, he intercepted backup quarterback Sean Salisbury and scored on a 48-yard return that sealed a 38-21 win. The Pro Bowl picked him in all 4 seasons from 1986 through 1989 and he got first-team All-Pro credit in 1988, while his NFL years, all in Cleveland, brought 20 interceptions for 124 yards and 7 fumble recoveries. The Browns later inducted him as a Legend, and you can find him on 5 of the 13 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Minnifield - 20
Josh Cribbs
On December 20, 2009, against Kansas City, he ran 2 kickoffs back for touchdowns, and that 2009 season he became first-team All-Pro. He had played quarterback in college at Kent State, went undrafted, and signed with Cleveland on April 29, 2005, staying through 2012. Kick returns became his trade: his 1,809 kickoff return yards in 2007 set a franchise single-season record, that year also brought him second-team All-Pro status, and his Pro Bowl selections were for the 2007, 2009 and 2012 seasons. Of the 13 sources, 5 include him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Cribbs - 21
Phil Dawson
His tying kick against Baltimore in 2007 hit the upright and the stanchion behind it and was first ruled no good, but the Browns got to overtime, where he won it with a 33-yard field goal. He kicked for Cleveland from 1999 through 2012 and was the last player left from that first 1999 squad when he moved on to San Francisco in 2013. Before 2008 the league made kicks off the uprights and crossbar reviewable, and that change became the Phil Dawson Rule. In November 2008 he beat Buffalo on Monday Night Football with a 56-yard field goal. When he left, his 305 field goals and his 84 percent career rate were both Browns records. He makes 5 of the 13 sources counted here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Dawson
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