Cleveland Browns: Ranking the most important players since 1999

5. Brian Hoyer

Brian Hoyer may be one of the most important Browns players of all time, simply because of the chain reaction he helped to set in motion. As a quarterback, he was “fine.” But as a catalyst of franchisal instability, he was frankly incredible.

Going into 2014, people actually had expectations for what the Cleveland Browns might be. They were coming off a lost season in 2013, where they had lost a promising quarterback prospect in one Brian Hoyer.

A journeyman quarterback from Lakewood, Ohio, Hoyer had struggled to find a place in the league since going undrafted in 2009. But, it looked like he had finally found his home before going down with an injury in 2013.

Hoyer’s 2014 season just took place at the wrong time. You see, fans were clamoring for rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel to take Hoyer’s place from the start of the season. It was only a matter of time until cracks started to show in Hoyer’s armor.

The Browns started 7-4, though, and actually sat atop the division at the end of week ten. Then, it all came crashing down. With the cries for Manziel getting too loud to ignore, and Hoyer’s play steadily decreasing due to that and other factors, Cleveland began to slide.

They lost their last five games in succession, behind both Hoyer and Manziel. But, had Brian Hoyer kept his play up, he may have saved the Browns from themselves, and kept the ill-fated Manziel off of the football field.

So, did Hoyer have a lasting impact on the franchise? Meh, not particularly. It was cool to see the Browns go 7-9, but he ended up as just another brick in the quarterback wall and was gone by 2015. But, what about his play?

Hoyer’s play near the end of 2014 single-handedly brought about perhaps the worst all-time era of Browns football. With Johnny Manziel ready to take the reigns, Hoyer could not deal with the pressure, and little did he know what a disaster “Johnny Football” would be.

Did he change the course of history? Not really, considering the Browns still finished last in the division, which is really the status quo when you think about it. But, he was still the catalyst for the dark ages of the Dawg Pound.