Cleveland Browns: 5 best trades of all-time

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If the Cleveland Browns had only selected linebacker Clay Matthews in the first round of the 1978 NFL Draft it still would have been a day to remember.

But the fact that the added Hall of Fame tight end Ozzie Newsome in the first round that same year made it an epic draft for the franchise.

The selection was made even sweeter by the fact that the Browns were able to fix one of the worst trades in franchise history in acquiring Newsome.

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Prior to the 1970 draft, the Browns traded future Hall of Fame wide receiver Paul Warfield to the Miami Dolphins for a first-round draft pick that they used to select quarterback Mike Phipps. Like every other first-round quarterback selected by the Browns, Phipps did not live up to the hype and the Browns eventually traded him to the Chicago Bears after the 1976 season.

The Browns would use the pick from the Bears in trade with Los Angeles for a second first-round pick in 1978, which they used to select Newsome, a player that Alabama head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant called the finest receiver in school history.

Newsome would play 13 seasons for the Browns, retiring as the tight end in NFL history with 662 receptions for 7,980 yards and 47 touchdowns. He also ranked as the fourth leading receiver when he retired.

A member of the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 1980s, Newsome still holds the Browns’ single-season record for receptions with 89 (a number he hit in 1983 and 1984), and is one of only nine players in franchise history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a single season (a number he hit twice).

He is also the club’s career leader in receptions and yards, and is fifth in touchdown receptions.

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