User:Omg its will run/Sandbox articles/List of Cleveland Browns first-round draft picks
The following is a list of first-round draft picks made by the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). Prior to the 1950 NFL season, the Cleveland Browns, as well as the Baltimore Colts and San Francisco 49ers, became members of the NFL following the league's merger with the then-rival All-America Football Conference (AAFC), which was dominated by the Browns throughout all four years of its existence.
The Browns have made the first overall selection three times: Bobby Garrett, a quarterback from Stanford, in 1957; Tim Couch, a quarterback from Kentucky, in 1999; and Courtney Brown, a defensive end from Penn State, in 2000. The team has also selected four eventual Pro Football Hall of Famers: Doug Atkins, a defensive end from Tennessee, in 1953 (though he would be enshrined as a member of the Chicago Bears); Jim Brown, a fullback from Syracuse, in 1957; Paul Warfield, a wide receiver from Ohio State, in 1964; and Ozzie Newsome, a tight end from Alabama, in 1973. Cleveland's five selections from Michigan are the most chosen by the team from one school.
The team did not have any draft picks from 1996 to 1998; then-owner Art Modell had made the decision to relocate the team from Cleveland to Baltimore following the 1995 season. However, a compromise between the city of Cleveland and the NFL kept the team's history, name, and colors in Cleveland, while Modell's new franchise would be regarded as an expansion team. The Baltimore Ravens began play in 1996. The Browns returned to the league as an expansion team in 1999 and were awarded the first overall selection of the draft (see below), with which the team selected Couch. Because of this, and for the NFL's record-keeping purposes, the Browns are considered to have suspended operations from 1996 to 1998, which is reflected in this list.
Cleveland's first first-round draft pick as an NFL team was Ken Carpenter, a halfback from Oregon State, in the 1950 NFL Draft. The team's most recent first-round draft pick was Alex Mack, a center from California, in the 2009 NFL Draft.
How the draft works edit
The NFL Player Selection Meeting, which is more commonly known as the NFL Draft, is held each year at the end of April. It is the primary method for the league's teams to add newly-eligible players to their rosters, primarily from college football. These additions are known as selections, but are more commonly known as picks.
The draft order for the first round is determined as follows:
- Expansion teams select before any other team, with a coin toss deciding which team will select first should there be more than one expansion team;
- Participants in the Super Bowl are always given the final two selections, with the loser selecting before the champion;
- Teams that did not make the NFL playoffs are sorted by their records during the regular season;
- Finally, teams that made the playoffs are sorted by how they performed, with teams eliminated in the wild card round selecting before teams eliminated in the divisional round, who, in turn, select before teams eliminated in the conference round, with all teams being sorted within this primary order by their regular season records.
Ties are first broken by strength of schedule, where a lower strength of schedule results in an earlier selection. If there is still a tie, conference or division standings tiebreakers are used. In cases where ties cannot be broken, a coin toss is performed at the NFL Scouting Combine in early February to determine the draft order.
Furthermore, teams have the option of trading draft selections, so it is not uncommon for a team's actual selection to vary from its assigned selection.
| Legend | ||
|---|---|---|
| * | player selected number one overall | |
| † | player enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame | |
List of Cleveland Browns first-round draft picks edit
| Draft | Player | Position | College | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Sel | |||
| National Football League, Early Era (1950–1969) | ||||
| 1950 | 13 | Ken Carpenter | HB | Oregon State |
| 1951 | 14 | Ken Konz | DB | LSU |
| 1952 | 10 | Bert Rechichar [note 1] | DB | Tennessee |
| 12 | Harry Agganis [note 2] | QB | Boston | |
| 1953 | 11 | Doug Atkins † [note 3] | DT | Tennessee |
| 1954 | 1 | Bobby Garrett * [note 4] | QB | Stanford |
| 12 | John Bauer | G | Illinois | |
| 1955 | 13 | Kurt Burris | C | Oklahoma |
| 1956 | 13 | Preston Carpenter | HB | Arkansas |
| 1957 | 6 | Jim Brown † [note 5] | FB | Syracuse |
| 1958 | 13 | Jim Shofner | DB | TCU |
| 1959 | 11 | Rich Kreitling | WR | Illinois |
| 1960 | 8 | Jim Houston | DE | Ohio State |
| 1961 | 10 | Bobby Crespino [note 6] | TE | Ole Miss |
| 1962 | 4 | Gary Collins [note 7] | WR | Maryland |
| 11 | Leroy Jackson [note 8] | HB | Western Illinois | |
| 1963 | 9 | Tom Hutchinson | WR | Kentucky |
| 1964 | 11 | Paul Warfield † [note 9] | WR | Ohio State |
| 1965 | – | No Selection [note 10] | ||
| 1966 | 14 | Milt Morin | TE | UMass |
| 1967 | 18 | Bob Matheson | LB | Duke |
| 1968 | 21 | Marvin Upshaw | DE | Trinity |
| 1969 | 20 | Rob Johnson | HB | Michigan |
| National Football League, Modern Era (1970–Present) | ||||
Notes and references edit
- ^ The Browns traded Jim Martin to Detroit in exchange for the 10th overall selection (used to select Bert Rechichar) in the 1952 draft.
- ^ Harry Agganis did not sign with the Browns after being drafted in 1951, instead choosing to accept an offer from the Boston Red Sox to play first base in Major League Baseball (MLB). Agganis would later pass away in 1955 from complications due to a pulmonary embolism.
- ^ Doug Atkins is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Chicago Bears.
- ^ The first overall selection in the 1954 draft (used to select Bobby Garrett) was a lottery selection awarded to the Browns. Garrett, however, did not play for the Browns after being drafted in 1954; he had a stutter, which severely inhibited his ability to call plays as a quarterback. He was traded to Green Bay, along with HB Don Miller, G John Bauer and G Chester Gierula in exchange for QB Babe Parilli and T Bob Fleck.
- ^ Jim Brown is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Browns. Browns' No. 32 was retired by the team in his honor.
- ^ The Browns traded QB Jim Ninowski to Detroit in exchange for the 10th overall selection (used to select Bobby Crespino) in the 1961 draft. The team traded its original first-round selection to Dallas in exchange for their first-round selection in 1962 (used to select Gary Collins) and T Paul Dickson. Crespino was also selected by the Oakland Raiders in the sixth round of the 1961 American Football League Draft.
- ^ See draft note 6
- ^ The Browns traded the rights to Leroy Jackson to Washington in exchange for the rights to Ernie Davis. Davis, however, would never play for the Browns; he was diagnosed with leukemia and later passed away before the 1962 season. Davis' No. 44 was retired by the team in his honor.
- ^ Paul Warfield is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Browns.
- ^ The Browns traded their first-round selection in the 1965 draft to San Francisco in exchange for G Ted Connolly.