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Cleveland Browns Magnificent Seven: Best players from the 20th century

By Elliot Kennel

19 Sep 1993: Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown looks on during a game between the Cleveland Browns and the Los Angeles Raiders at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The Browns won the game, 19-16. Mandatory Credit: Markus Boesch /Allsport
19 Sep 1993: Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown looks on during a game between the Cleveland Browns and the Los Angeles Raiders at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The Browns won the game, 19-16. Mandatory Credit: Markus Boesch /Allsport /
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player. 53. . RB. (1964-1973). Leroy Kelly. 5

When Jim Brown retired after the 1965 NFL Championship Game loss to the Green Bay Packers, which would have sent the Browns to Super Bowl I, the presumption around the NFL was that the Browns would roll over and die without the back regarded as the Greatest Of All Time — the GOAT.

When the GOAT went to pasture, halfback Ernie Green shifted to Brown’s spot as the fullback, punt returner Leroy Kelly took his place at halfback. Kelly was more focused as an outside thread at that time, with Green getting most of his carries up the middle.

Between the two of them, they accounted for over 2,700 yards from scrimmage in 1966. So, while there will never be another Jim Brown, the Browns were still among the NFL elites is rushing the ball with the tandem of Kelly and Green.

Kelly went on to make the NFL Pro Bowl six straight years and was a three-time All-Pro at a position that might have been more important than quarterback at that time. Still, when injuries began to take away the effectiveness of quarterback Green retired due to knee problems in 1968, it slowed down the entire offense.

At the time that Kelly played, it was more about dominant defenses, and they did not put up the gaudy offensive numbers of the modern game.  Although in today’s game the quarterback is usually the most important player, back in those days, the running back was probably the most important person on the field at that time. Leroy Kelly ran the ball as well as anyone in the post-Jim Brown era and for that reason he is in the NFL Hall of Fame.

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