NFL Draft: Best all-time pick for each team

Cleveland Browns: RB Jim Brown, 1st Round (No. 6), 1957

The recent pickings are slim here (or non-existent) for the Browns, with a hat-tip to Hall of Fame tight end Ozzie Newsome (No. 23 overall in 1978). But Brown is the clear choice as the best draft pick in franchise history, as arguably the greatest running back of all-time who may still hold some records if he had just played longer.

Over nine NFL seasons (1957-1965), Brown led the league in rushing eight times. He retired as the league’s all-time leader in rushing yards (12,312) and rushing touchdowns (106), and Brown is the only back in NFL history to average over 100 rushing yards per game for his career (104.3 per game).

As a clear testament to how good Brown was, it took Walter Payton 18 more games and 451 more carries to surpass him as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher in 1984 (Payton’s 10th NFL season). The league’s switch to a 16-game regular season during Payton’s’ career adds a little apples-to-oranges to the equation, but there’s no denying the greatness of either guy.

Brown had aspirations beyond the football field, and he retired at age-29 to fully pursue an acting career. Production delays filming The Dirty Dozen in 1966 delayed Brown’s arrival for training camp, which drew ire and the threat of daily fines from Browns’ owner Art Modell. Instead of playing what would have been his 10th (and final, by his own announcement) NFL season, Brown retired a bit sooner while still in his prime.

Brown is a case of what might have been, if he had played into his 30’s. It’s only a matter of time before he falls out of the top-10 on the all-time rushing list now, but Brown is absolutely toward the top of any other measure there is for a running back.