The Worst of the Worst: Biggest Cleveland Browns draft-busts since 1999

Biggest busts in Cleveland Browns history: 1. Courtney Brown

This one hits close to home being an Ohio State Buckeye fan.  Do you remember Courtney Brown jumping over the Ohio State left tackle to sack Steve Bellisari in 1999?  Obviously, those were less competitive Ohio State teams than now, but the Buckeyes were dominated single-handedly by Brown in 1999.  Brown who was a Lombardi Trophy finalist in 1999 never would live up to the hype, only recording 17 sacks and 134 tackles in 5 years with the team.

Brown only started one full season with the team as he was constantly fighting nagging injures that kept him off the field.  Unlike Brown’s teammate LaVar Arrington, Brown found little success in the NFL and was bounced from the league after just 6 years.  Not only does Brown lead this distinguished list of draft busts for the Cleveland Browns, but he can also often be found lists of all-time NFL busts.

What is most alarming from all of this to me?  It isn’t that the Browns have had so many bad picks, it’s that we hired a GM, Andrew Berry, who was not only involved in a winless season but also picking 20% of the players on this list.  I get Berry wasn’t “The Man” in charge from his stent in 2016-2018, but there must be some acceptance of blame as the Vice President of Personnel.  I try to not be a pessimistic Browns fan, but let’s be honest, it is tough with some of the things fans have gone through in the last 20 years.

Once Berry was brought back, no matter how upset I was with the release of John Dorsey, I decided he deserves a fair chance.  He helped build a great roster in Philadelphia and is highly thought of in the NFL.  Let’s hope in 5 years we are writing more on the homerun draft picks, rather than the busts.  Oh, and that Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski are still our GM and head coach!