December 2022
Believe it or not, there was a time when the Cleveland Browns were one of pro football’s premier franchises. The flagship franchise of the short-lived All-America Football Conference (AAFC) (the first major competitor to the National Football League), the Browns won all four league championships prior to it folding in 1949. In 1950, the Browns, San Francisco 49ers, and the first iteration of the Baltimore Colts would all join the NFL. Cleveland would go on to make the next six NFL Championship Games, winning three.
Over the next two decades, the Cleveland Browns would see outstanding play from their quarterbacks, even boasting arguably the greatest ever to play at the position. Unfortunately, the franchise hasn’t seen consistently solid play under Center since the late 1980s. Since then, highly touted draft picks have gone bust, sometimes at their own fault and other times less so. It didn’t help either that the franchise ceased to exist for three years in the late 1990s.
Since 1950, eleven players have taken snaps over a minimum of 30 starts for Cleveland’s NFL franchise. Here are the 11 men who qualified for this analysis:
| Quarterback | Browns Seasons | Total Starts |
| Derek Anderson | 2006-2009 | 34 |
| Tim Couch | 1999-2003 | 59 |
| Otto Graham | 1946-1955 | 78 |
| Bernie Kosar | 1985-1993 | 112 |
| Baker Mayfield | 2018-2021 | 61 |
| Bill Nelsen | 1968-1972 | 56 |
| Mike Phipps | 1970-1976 | 52 |
| Milt Plum | 1957-1961 | 52 |
| Frank Ryan | 1962-1968 | 79 |
| Brian Sipe | 1974-1983 | 113 |
| Vinny Testaverde | 1993-1995 | 33 |
The Pregame Show
- Otto Graham began his career in Cleveland in 1946 as the franchise spent its first four years in the AAFC. But as the analysis only covers the 1950 NFL season and onward, the statistics he accumulated from 1946-1949 are not accounted for in this article.
- The data covers only their time playing for Cleveland. So, for example, Bernie Kosar’s data will not cover his time in Dallas and Miami.
- The Cleveland Browns were relocated to Baltimore in 1996 to become the Ravens. However, Baltimore did not inherit the Browns records, rather, beginning as a new franchise. When the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999 they retained the franchise’s previous records. Therefore, this analysis does not cover time played on the Baltimore Ravens.
- A couple notable omissions:
- With the 22nd overall pick in the 2014, the Browns selected two-year Texas A&M starter Johnny Manziel, the first ever Freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. Over two injury-laden seasons, Manziel provided numerous controversies on and off the field, and won just two of ten starts. Relegated to pariah status at only 24 years of age, Manziel has bounced around various other pro leagues, but never was picked up by another NFL team.
- Tommy O’Connell shared quarterbacking duties in 1956 with George Ratterman and Babe Parilli, trying to replace the immortal Otto Graham who had retired the previous season. None played particularly well, and the Browns went a disappointing 5-7. O’Connell won the job outright in ’57 though and posted a 7-1-1 record in nine starts He made the Pro Bowl and led Cleveland to the NFL Championship Game, although they got smoked by Detroit 59-14. Stunningly, O’Connell was cut by the Browns prior to the 1958 season and he went into college coaching, including one year as skipper for the Drake Bulldogs. Briefly returning to pro ball in 1960, he would start the inaugural game for the American Football League’s Buffalo Bills and make seven starts for the fledgling franchise over two seasons, going 1-5-1.
I have narrowed the list down to a Top 5, including one honorable mention, with their respective index scores based upon the same criteria as the Top 100 list.
Key:
W-L% Win-Loss Percentage (as starter)
Tot Y/G Total Yards per Game
TD/G Total Touchdowns per Game
TO/G Total Turnovers per Game
Y/C/Y/A Average of Yards per Completion + Yards per Attempt
Comp% Completion Percentage
TD% Rate of Touchdowns per Pass Attempt
INT% Rate of Interceptions per Pass Attempt
Note: I have awarded bonus points for winning NFL titles. Bonus points have also been awarded for longevity, based upon deviation of seasons as primary starter compared to the average NFL quarterback during the respective player’s time on the Browns.
Honorable Mention: Brian Sipe
Brian Sipe was a solid quarterback for 12 NFL seasons (1972-1983), and sprinkled in were a few really terrific years. The first couple years were spent on the bench. When he did finally get a chance to play, the results were ugly. From 1974-1975, Sipe went 2-5 in his starts and tossed two touchdowns to ten interceptions. However, over the next eight seasons, he would be the Browns’ primary starter, replacing former first round pick Mike Phipps and winning more than half his starts.
Sipe would throw an NFL-best 28 TDs in ’79, but his greatest moment would come one year later when he would win league MVP and lead the Browns to their first postseason in eight years. However, his lone playoff showing would be a catastrophe, throwing three INTs in a 14-12 loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Oakland Raiders. Played in a negative-20 degree wind chill, the game is notoriously remembered as “Red Right 88”. From 1981-1983, it would be a mixed bag for Sipe. He would twice finish in the Top 10 in passing yards, but throw nine more interceptions than touchdown passes and not play in the postseason again. He would end his pro career with two seasons in the USFL from 1984-1985.
Brian Sipe was at least an average quarterback in just about every regard during his NFL career. However, where he exceeded the mean was in terms of accuracy with a 56.5% career completion rate to a 53.7% average. He also had a notably lower INT rate than his QB counterparts, 4.3% to 5.0%. Other than having a slightly lower-than-average YCYA over his ten seasons, Sipe’s index score is brought down slightly by a brutal performance in his lone playoff appearance.
Browns Tenure Index Score: 1.355 (average QB = 0.0)
Longevity Bonus = 0.6 Title Bonus = 0.0
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | TD/G | TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Comp % | TD% | Int% | TOTAL |
| Regular | 0.005 | 0.004 | 0.016 | 0.021 | -0.018 | 0.053 | 0.010 | 0.053 | 1.779 |
| Playoffs | -0.280 | -0.047 | -0.400 | -0.981 | -0.084 | -0.389 | -0.400 | -0.143 | -0.301 |
#5: Bernie Kosar
Bernie Kosar was born and raised in Boardman Ohio, a suburb of Youngstown less than a 90-minute drive from Downtown Cleveland. So perhaps it was no surprise that the Browns selected him, a decorated college star at Miami (FL) with their supplemental first round pick in the 1985 draft. He was immediately a success, helping the Browns win the AFC Central his rookie year, then taking his team to three of the next four AFC Championship Games. Sadly, Bernie Kosar’s NFL career isn’t defined by throwing for 489 yards in a comeback Divisional Round win over the Jets in ’86, nor making the Pro Bowl in 1987 . Rather, it’s defined by two singular plays completely out of his control: “The Drive” and “The Fumble”.
Kosar never put up electric numbers in the regular season, but he was a solid and dependable starter who nearly got the Browns to three Super Bowls, but sadly was unable to get them to a single one. In 1993, he was cut by head coach Bill Belichick. The move proved extremely unpopular in the city that “rocks”, and helped lead to the demise of Belichick’s first head coaching stint. And while Bernie Kosar only started three more regular season games over the next three-and-a-half seasons between Dallas and Miami, he was critical in the Cowboys securing victory over the 49ers in the 1994 NFC title game and won a Super Bowl ring two weeks later as Troy Aikman’s back-up.
Compared to the average quarterback from 1985-1993, Bernie Kosar was tremendously reliable with the football. His 1.2 turnovers per game was far less than the QB league average of 1.8, and his 2.6% INT rate was far below a mean of 3.8% in the regular season. He was a little below average in terms of total yards per game and only totaled more than 20 TDs in a season once (interestingly, in strike-shortened 1987). But overall, his dependability was a big reason that the Cleveland Browns were one of the AFC’s best in the mid-to-late 1980s.
Browns Tenure Index Score: 1.757 (average QB = 0.0)
Longevity Bonus = 0.7 Title Bonus = 0.0
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | TD/G | TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Comp % | TD% | Int% | TOTAL |
| Regular | 0.005 | -0.046 | -0.058 | 0.137 | -0.029 | 0.051 | -0.033 | 0.130 | 1.834 |
| Playoffs | -0.040 | 0.082 | 0.181 | -0.006 | 0.029 | 0.008 | 0.147 | -0.003 | 0.312 |
#4: Bill Nelsen
Bill Nelsen was essentially a failed quarterback, having started 23 games for Pittsburgh over six seasons, winning only six. A few months prior to the start of the 1968 season, he was dealt to Cleveland as part of a multi-player deal that sent quarterback Dick Shiner to the Steelers. Expected to serve as back-up, Nelsen quickly replaced an injury-battered Frank Ryan four games into the season and helped lead the Browns to nine wins in their last 11 games and a Century Division title. He guided Cleveland to a playoff win over Dallas, before falling to the Baltimore Colts in the NFL Championship Game (the Colts would be upset by the New York Jets in Super Bowl III two weeks later). For his efforts, Nelsen would finish third in AP MVP voting.
With his career rejuvenated, Bill Nelsen had a terrific encore in 1969. In making the Pro Bowl, he finished tied-for-second in the NFL in passing TDs, and fourth in passing yards. He once again led the Browns, who finished the regular season with a 10-3-1 record, to playoff victory over Dallas. But in the last NFL Championship Game, Cleveland would be crushed by the Minnesota Vikings, 27-7. Over the next two seasons, Nelson would go 15-10 as Cleveland’s starter. But in his lone playoff appearance (1971), Nelsen would be picked off three times in a loss to the Colts. In 1972, his final NFL season, Nelsen would turn over quarterbacking duties to Mike Phipps.
Bill Nelsen was a dominant regular season quarterback during his five years in Cleveland. His 187.0 total yards per game were nearly 20 better than the NFL quarterback average, and his 1.4 touchdowns per start bested a league average of just 1.0. He also posted a TD rate of 5.4%, far better than a mean of 4.0%, and won two-thirds of his starts. Where Nelsen fell below average was in postseason performance. In five playoff starts he finished below-average in every category except completion percentage.
Browns Tenure Index Score: 2.733 (average QB = 0.0)
Longevity Bonus = -0.1 Title Bonus = 0.0
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | TD/G | TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Comp % | TD% | Int% | TOTAL |
| Regular | 0.099 | 0.065 | 0.132 | -0.010 | 0.068 | 0.037 | 0.140 | 0.031 | 6.411 |
| Playoffs | -0.056 | -0.075 | -0.177 | -0.094 | -0.088 | 0.059 | -0.153 | -0.029 | -0.684 |
#3: Milt Plum
Like Bill Nelsen, Milt Plum is another guy who didn’t crack this site’s Top 100 of all time. But that’s due to more to his performance outside of Cleveland, than what he did as a Brown. After making three starts for the Brownies in his rookie year of 1957, Plum won the job outright and began a remarkable four-year streak of play. In 1958, he won nine of 11 starts and led Cleveland back to the postseason, although they lost a Divisional Round playoff game to the Giants in which Plum totaled less than 100 yards of offense and was picked off twice.
From 1959-1961, Milt Plum made two Pro Bowls. He led the NFL in completion percentage all three years, averaging 59.2% when the rest of the league was barely over 50.0%. He twice led the league in lowest interception rate. And he posted one of the finest seasons for a QB in NFL history in 1960. His passer rating of 110.4 was an NFL-record that lasted for three decades, finally broken in 1989 by Joe Montana (112.4). Alas, in an era where only the division champions made the NFL title game, the Browns finished short of first place all three years and failed to make the postseason.
Despite his individual accomplishments, Milt Plum was traded after the 1962 season, possibly due to his criticism of head coach Paul Brown’s play calling. Career-wise, the move was a disaster for Plum. Although he led Detroit to an 11-3 record in ’62, it was in the midst of the Packer dynasty and they lost the NFL West Division by two games. Still, the Lions’ success was mostly due to the league’s second-best scoring defense as Plum’s 16 TDs were met by 20 INTs. Over the next five seasons in Motown, he would go just 12-22-4 in his starts, with a QB rating of 54.7 and a completion rate under 50.0%. He spent his final two NFL seasons, 1968 and 1969, as a back-up for the L.A. Rams and New York Giants.
Had Milt Plum spent his entire career in a Browns uniform, we might be looking back at him as one of the greats. He was tremendously successful over his five years in Cleveland, notably completing nearly 58.0% of his passes to a league average of 50.0%. He also averaged a mere one turnover per game and posted an interception rate of 3.6% when the mean was 1.5 turnovers per game and an INT rate of 6.4%. Plum also won two-thirds of his starts. He is only brought down by a below-average accumulation of total yards per game (172.5 to an average of 198.2), and a lack of postseason success.
Browns Tenure Index Score: 3.225 (average QB = 0.0)
Longevity Bonus = -0.1 Title Bonus = 0.0
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | TD/G | TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Comp % | TD% | Int% | TOTAL |
| Regular | 0.093 | -0.078 | -0.023 | 0.210 | 0.031 | 0.148 | 0.060 | 0.176 | 7.485 |
| Playoffs | -0.280 | -0.221 | -0.400 | -0.120 | -0.177 | -0.047 | -0.400 | -0.815 | -0.879 |
#2: Frank Ryan
Frank Ryan is a name that lives in seeming anonymity today, but during a five-year period in the Sixties he was as good as any quarterback in pro football. In fact, in 2017, he was named by Mike Tanier of Bleacher Report as the most underrated player in NFL history. Not just quarterback, but player. In fact, this site even has Ryan ranked as the second-best NFL quarterback of the 1960s. And to this day, he is the last QB to lead the Browns to a championship, doing so in the 1964 NFL title game over Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts.
After spending his first four seasons with the L.A. Rams, Frank Ryan was traded to Cleveland leading up to the 1962 season. He replaced injured starter Jim Ninowski halfway through the campaign and didn’t give the primary signal caller job up until six years later. From 1963-1967, Ryan led the NFL in TD rate three times, touchdown passes twice, and made three Pro Bowls. He also threw 42 more touchdowns than interceptions as the Browns posted a 48-17-1 record in his regular season starts. Ryan was masterful in Cleveland’s 1964 NFL Championship Game victory, throwing for 206 yards and three TDs, with just a single pick.
The Browns fell just short of repeating the following season, falling 23-12 to Vince Lombardi’s Packers in the 1965 title game. Played on a cold and excessively muddy field, Ryan was held to just 124 yards of offense with one touchdown but two interceptions. He would guide the Browns to the postseason in ’67, but they would fall to the Cowboys in the Divisional Round. Banged up and underperforming the following season, Ryan was benched for Bill Nelsen and never started another game for Cleveland. His next two (and final) seasons were served as back-up to Sonny Jurgensen in Washington, rarely seeing the field and making no starts.
Frank Ryan’s 7.6% touchdown rate was substantially better than the league average of 5.2% from 1962-1968. He also made fewer mistakes than the average QB, posting 1.5 turnovers per game to a mean of 2.0. Most importantly, Frank Ryan won nearly 70% of his starts for the Browns, none bigger than victory in the 1964 NFL Championship Game.
Browns Tenure Index Score: 3.604 (average QB = 0.0)
Longevity Bonus = 0.2 Title Bonus = 0.7
One NFL Title
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | TD/G | TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Comp % | TD% | Int% | TOTAL |
| Regular | 0.111 | -0.077 | 0.040 | 0.105 | 0.048 | 0.000 | 0.183 | 0.031 | 5.272 |
| Playoffs | -0.108 | -0.055 | 0.232 | -0.073 | 0.033 | -0.015 | 0.455 | -0.055 | 0.212 |
#1: Otto Graham
One of the few players who can make a legitimate argument for the title “Great Quarterback of All Time”, Otto Graham was the best of the best during a pivotal moment in the history of the pro game. Despite being taken #4 overall by the Detroit Lions in the 1944 NFL Draft, he chose to enroll in the U.S. Navy as World War II continued. Following his service, Graham decided to forego the NFL and sign with the Cleveland Browns of the newly-formed All-America Football Conference (AAFC) that began play in 1946. The AAFC lasted only four years, but Otto Graham and the Browns won all four championships under legendary head coach and team founder Paul Brown. In four years in the AAFC, Otto Graham led the league in passing yards and QB rating three times, and topped the league in TD passes twice.
In 1950, the San Francisco 49ers and the original version of the Baltimore Colts joined the Browns in a merger with the NFL. Thought to be inferior to their new competition, Cleveland stunned the defending NFL Champion Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1 of the 1950 season, 35-10. The Browns would win their final game of the season as well, the 1950 NFL Championship that included a fourth quarter comeback in a 30-28 victory. Otto Graham would have the game of his life, passing for 298 yards, running for 99 more, and tossing four TD passes.
Although Cleveland would return to the NFL Championship Game over the next three years, they would lose each contest. Then in 1954, the Cleveland Browns reclaimed the flag for the NFL’s best team in a 56-10 championship game drubbing of the Detroit Lions, the team that had defeated them for the championship the previous two years. In 1955, Graham’s final season, he would once again lead Cleveland to glory in a 38-14 NFL Championship Game win over the Los Angeles Rams and fellow future Hall-of-Famer Norm Van Brocklin.
In his final game, Otto Graham walked off the field a winner, just as he was throughout the entirety of his career. In 10 pro seasons between the AAFC and NFL, he led the Cleveland Browns to the championship game in every single season and ended up winning it all on seven of those occasions. He was no slouch in the regular season either, leading the NFL three times in completion percentage, twice in both passing yards and QB rating, and once in TD passes. Graham also made the Pro Bowl in all six seasons, winning MVP three of those years.
Otto Graham could do it all. He still holds the NFL record for regular season win percentage for a quarterback at 81.4% and his 55.7% completion percentage crushed his competition at a time when the average for a quarterback was 47.5%. While the average signal caller was turning the ball over 2.6 times per game, Graham only did it 1.8 times in his starts. And most importantly, “Automatic Otto” and the Cleveland Browns came away with wins in three NFL Championship Games.
Browns Tenure Index Score: 9.130 (average QB = 0.0)
Longevity Bonus = 1.3 Title Bonus = 3.0
Three NFL Titles
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | TD/G | TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Comp % | TD% | Int% | TOTAL |
| Regular | 0.434 | -0.012 | 0.028 | 0.120 | 0.150 | 0.173 | 0.053 | 0.070 | 8.583 |
| Playoffs | 0.100 | 0.033 | 0.182 | 0.123 | 0.153 | 0.098 | 0.227 | 0.116 | 1.091 |
The Postgame Show
- Eight of the 11 quarterbacks analyzed for this article qualified for this site’s Top 100 list. Five made the Top 100 list, which encompasses their full careers and not just their time in Cleveland: Otto Graham, Frank Ryan, Brian Sipe, Bernie Kosar, and Vinny Testaverde. It should be noted though that Testaverde spent just three of his 21 NFL seasons in Cleveland. Also, while Milt Plum and Bill Nelsen had great tenures with the Browns, they had a rough go of it on other teams. That explains why they didn’t make the site’s Top 100 list while Sipe and Kosar did.
- Taken third overall in the 1970 Draft, Mike Phipps was supposed to be the next great Browns quarterback. Despite some early promise, including winning 10 of 13 starts in 1972 and leading Cleveland to the postseason, most of his career was a struggle. He lasted seven seasons the CLE, eventually being replaced by Brian Sipe. Phipps never won a playoff game in Cleveland and threw twice as many interceptions as touchdowns in the regular season. As one last hurrah, he would guide the Chicago Bears to the playoffs in ’79. He would remain a back-up in Chicago through 1981, his final NFL season.
- After being unable to turn Tampa Bay into a winner, former #1 overall draft pick Vinny Testaverde moved on to the Browns to back up Bernie Kosar. He would take over the starting job just two months into the 1993 season. Testaverde would also lead Cleveland to a playoff victory in ’94, and keep the starting job during the Browns move to Baltimore. He would play in the NFL through 2007, retiring after 21 seasons.
- Derek Anderson made his pro debut for the Cleveland Browns in 2006, and thrived one year later by going 10-5 in his starts, leading the league with 12.7 yards per completion, and making the Pro Bowl. It wouldn’t get any better for Anderson though. He would go just 6-10 in Cleveland over the next two seasons. Although he would go on to play for another decade with three different teams, he would only start 15 more games in his NFL career.
- Five quarterbacks were taken in the first round of the 1999 Draft, including the first three picks. The Cleveland Browns, coming off a three-year hiatus, and looking for their next great quarterback, had the #1 overall pick and selected Kentucky’s Tim Couch. He would make 59 starts for them over the next five seasons. The Browns would go just 22-37 in his starts though, and while he led them to the postseason in 2002, he would miss the Wild Card round with a broken leg. Couch would be released after the following season and surprisingly never play another regular season game in the NFL.
- Baker Mayfield was supposed to be the next great Browns quarterback (where have we heard that before?) when he was drafted #1 overall in 2017 out of Oklahoma. He finished second in Associated Press Rookie of the Year voting and, after a disappointing sophomore campaign, would go on to lead the Browns to their first postseason appearance in nearly 20 years in 2020. They would defeat Pittsburgh in the Wild Card Round before losing a squeaker to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the Divisional Round. After a poor 2021 campaign, Mayfield would be traded to Carolina where he would last for less than a season before being cut and then picked up by the Rams.
In Summary
Perhaps the most star-crossed franchise in NFL history, the Cleveland Browns have had a wild run at the quarterback position. They’ve had promising young players fizzle out (Phipps, Couch, Mayfield) and guys come out of nowhere to thrive (Ryan, Nelsen, Sipe). They also boast, in Otto Graham, one of the greatest leaders in pro football history and one of the finest ever to play his respective position. Being a Browns fan has been a struggle since the team was reborn in 1999. But even if they can’t find another Otto Graham to be their next great field general, there might just be another Milt Plum or Bernie Kosar out there ready to turn them back to consistent respectability.
The Quarterback Project 