The Cleveland Browns continue their search for a star franchise quarterback again this season. It is a search that has been ongoing for more than forty years, and there is a good chance it will not be resolved for several more. The sad part is that they had their man, the first star QB1 in decades, and they gave up on him. Now, they are paying the price for their impatience. Here is a look at the Browns’ struggle and their missed opportunities.
One could argue that the Browns have only had three or four-star quarterbacks in the entire history of the franchise. In the 40s and 50s, the Browns stole Otto Graham away from the Detroit Lions. The Lions drafted Graham fourth overall in the 1944 draft, but Graham spurned the NFL to play for the Browns in the rival All-American Football Conference. Graham, a tailback in college, was the team’s starting quarterback in their inaugural season in 1946. He led the team to four straight AAFC championships.
Graham was the team’s starter when Cleveland joined the NFL in 1950, and he immediately led the Browns to a fifth consecutive championship. The Hall of Famer then led the Browns to five more championship games, winning the last two, before retiring after the 1955 season. Tom Brady may be called the “Greatest of All Time,” but he didn’t take his team to the championship game every year like Graham or win five championships in a row. Both quarterbacks finished with seven championships.
Cleveland has never had another Hall of Famer as their franchise quarterback. Milt Plum (1957-1961), Frank Ryan (1962-1968), and Brian Sipe (1974-1983) all had good runs, but were never Hall of Fame material. Since Sipe retired, the quarterback position for the Browns has been a black hole of failed draft picks and fading veterans.
The past four decades of Browns QB1s have not fared well. Cleveland thought they had their next big thing at the position several times. Number one overall draft picks Bernie Kosar and Tim Couch never quite lived up to their potential, despite getting years to prove themselves. Veterans like Vinny Testaverde, Trent Dilfer, Jeff Garcia, and Jameis Winston came and went without success. Experiments like DeShone Kizer, Brandon Weeden, Jacoby Brissett, Derek Anderson, Johnny Manziel, and Charlie Fry fizzled.
Here we come to, perhaps, the two worst choices made in the past four decades of Cleveland’s search. The first was the acquisition of Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans. Watson was a budding superstar in Houston until he was accused by two dozen women of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massages in 2020 and 2021. Watson sat out the entire 2021 season due to his misconduct and his desire to be traded. Houston eventually settled 30 civil lawsuits against Watson.
Cleveland then traded three first-round draft picks, a third-round pick, and a fourth-round pick for Watson and a fifth-round pick. The Browns signed Watson to a five-year $230 million fully guaranteed contract. Unfortunately, he was suspended by the NFL for 11 games for his conduct in Houston. In his first three seasons in Cleveland, Watson has played in only 19 games, passing for a combined 3365 yards and 19 touchdowns, with 12 interceptions. Watson will likely miss all of the 2025 season due to a torn Achilles tendon.
Why did Cleveland take the huge risk and make the huge commitment in Watson? They didn’t have faith in 2018 number one overall pick and four-year starter Baker Mayfield (horrible choice number two). Mayfield’s four seasons with the Browns were solid, if unspectacular. With the trade for Watson, Cleveland shipped Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers for a conditional 2024 draft pick. Mayfield struggled with a dismal 2-15 Carolina team and was released mid-season. He then signed with the Los Angeles Rams after their starter, Matthew Stafford, was injured. Mayfield played in five games (four starts) with the Rams.
At that point, the loss of Mayfield seemed minor in Cleveland, despite how things were shaping up with Watson. The next two seasons, though, would be rough for Browns fans to watch. Mayfield signed with Tampa Bay and won the Buccaneers’ starting job. In his first season with the Bucs, he threw for 4044 yards and 28 touchdowns, with just ten interceptions. Tampa Bay rewarded Mayfield with a three-year extension, and he rewarded them with a second straight Pro Bowl season and a second straight division title in 2024. Mayfield passed for 4500 yards and 41 touchdowns, with a 71.4 completion percentage and 16 interceptions.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but it must be hard for the city of Cleveland going into this season. Their former top draft pick is a star in Tampa Bay, and their $230 million man won’t even play this year. Preseason games have begun, and Cleveland’s roster has six quarterbacks on it. The team drafted Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders during the offseason. They also brought back 40-year-old Joe Flacco and signed free agents Kenny Pickett and Tyler Huntley. None of those options seems too promising, and two of those QBs will likely be cut in the next few weeks.
Most likely, Flacco will start the season as the Browns’ QB1. While he performed admirably filling in for Watson in 2023, he is not Mayfield. At 40, he’s not even as good as Mayfield was when he was in Cleveland. Pickett did nothing in three years in Pittsburgh, and Huntley is a career backup. There was early talk of Sanders being cut, but then Pickett and Gabriel sustained minor hamstring issues, and Sanders ended up getting more reps in practice. It is hard to tell who will be the Browns’ starter at season’s end, but whoever it is, their numbers will pale in comparison to Mayfield’s in Tampa Bay.
Choosing a man accused of misconduct by more than two dozen women over the quarterback who took your team to the playoffs for the first time in 18 years seems like an evil plan. Yes, Mayfield had erratic moments. Yes, he was frustrated with the coaching staff. Mayfield also had to deal with four head coaches and four offensive coordinators in his four years in Cleveland. That would frustrate any quarterback. The point is, once he found a stable organization that believed in his abilities, he thrived. Stable is not a word you hear associated with the Browns organization too often.
The Browns finally had their man, and they blew it. They finally drafted a star, and they ditched him for someone in legal trouble. Not only that, they guaranteed the replacement’s entire bloated contract and gave up five draft picks in the process, including three first-rounders. The chaos and mismanagement in Cleveland are why the Browns have been bad for so long, and why Mayfield wanted and needed out. He gave everything he had in Cleveland. He played hurt. He played with his heart on his sleeve, and they rejected him. Now the Browns are right back where they were before Mayfield, and he is right where he belongs.
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