Who are the picks for the Cleveland Browns’ Mount Rushmore and their four standout players?
The Cleveland Browns were an original member of the All-America Football Conference that was in business for four seasons from 1946-49.
The club was led by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and innovator Paul Brown. During their stay in the short-lived league, a club won all four championships. The team joined the NFL in 1950 and proceeded to win the championship that first year and two more that decade.
Of course, the Browns’ last NFL title came in 1964 and they have never reached the Super Bowl. The franchise was relocated to Baltimore following the 1995 season and there was a new team born out of expansion in 1999. Of course, the current Browns inherited all of the team’s previous history and records.
But the new incarnation has been anything but successful. Still, it’s a football legacy that does include plenty of big names including Hall of Famers such as tight end Ozzie Newsome, versatile Lou “The Toe” Groza, wide receivers such as Paul Warfield and Dante Lavelli and a slew of offensive linemen like Gene Hickerson and Frank Gratski.
There’s also the likes of quarterbacks Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar, defensive tackles Jerry Sherk and Michael Dean Perry, running back Greg Pruitt, linebacker Chip Banks and cornerback Frank Minnifield. But who stands tallest when it comes to the greatest players (in alphabetical order) in this team’s history?