All-Time Cleveland Browns Team

The Arizona Cardinals two weeks ago. The Seattle Seahawks last week. The Cleveland Browns this week. A dive into the franchise history of each Minnesota Vikings opponent on the eve of their game is fun. The Browns have a hacked-up history. The Browns franchise that formed in 1946 as a member of the All-America Football Conference are today’s Baltimore Ravens. Today’s Browns team is an expansion team. They are an expansion team that got their start in 1999. Today’s Ravens team have a better connection to the Browns great past than today’s Browns. It’s a hacked-up history. Plowing through that hacked-up history, here’s an All-Time Team of the Cleveland Browns. It’s an excellent team. 

Offense

Quarterback

Otto Graham

Running Back

Jim Brown

Fullback

Marion Motley

Both Jim Brown and Marion Motley played fullback. Picking one over the other for a single position is a tougher decision than many might realize. My father saw Motley play a few times against the San Francisco 49ers at Kezar Stadium. I loved my father’s football stories of those times. He said that Motley was the best back he’d ever seen. I prefer placing both great fullbacks in the same great backfield to picking one over the other.

Wide Receivers

Dante Lavelli

Paul Warfield

Tight End

Ozzie Newsome

Tackles

Joe Thomas

Lou Groza

Guards

Gene Hickerson

Jim Ray Smith

Center

Frank Gatski

Defense

Defensive Ends

Len Ford

Myles Garrett

Defensive Tackles

Bill Willis

Jerry Sherk 

Linebackers

Clay Matthews

Walt Michaels

Chip Banks

Cornerbacks

Hanford Dixon

Frank Minnifield

Safeties

Thom Darden

Eric Turner

Special Teams

Kicker

Phil Dawson

Punter

Horace Gillom

Returners

Bobby Mitchell

Josh Cribbs