Cleveland Browns: Top 20 All-Time first-round draft picks

Cleveland Browns top first-round draft picks All-Time No. 8: Clay Matthews, Jr., LB, USC

There may be no stronger NFL bloodline than that of the Matthews family. The Browns pick in 1978 out of USC, Clay Matthews Jr. was the son of a former offensive lineman, Clay Matthews Sr. He played with the San Francisco 49ers and two of his sons made the pros.

Of course, there was Clay, Jr. with the Browns from 1978 to 1993. He then played three more seasons with the Atlanta Falcons before hanging it up. His younger brother, Bruce Matthews, came into the league also via USC in 1983 and played until 2001 with the Houston Oilers — who later became the Tennessee Titans.

Bruce, who played offensive tackle like his father, is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but still may not be the most famous member of the family. That honor goes to Clay Matthews III, who also starred at USC and then became a star with the Green Bay Packers before finishing his career with the Los Angeles Rams.

As for the Browns’ Clay Matthews, he recorded 1,430 tackles in his 16 seasons with Cleveland while adding 69.5 sacks (they weren’t an official stat his whole career) and 16 interceptions. He’s still the all-time Cleveland leader in both tackles and sacks, which gets him firmly planted on this list of Browns’ great first-round draft picks.