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Cleveland Browns top-10 all-time pass catchers

By John Suchan

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 28: Tight End Ozzie Newsome #82 of the Cleveland Browns dives to make a catch against the San Francisco 49ers during an NFL football game October 28, 1990 at Candlestick park in San Francisco, California. Newsome played for the Browns from 1978-90. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 28: Tight End Ozzie Newsome #82 of the Cleveland Browns dives to make a catch against the San Francisco 49ers during an NFL football game October 28, 1990 at Candlestick park in San Francisco, California. Newsome played for the Browns from 1978-90. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – OCTOBER 28: Tight End Ozzie Newsome #82 of the Cleveland Browns dives to make a catch against the San Francisco 49ers during an NFL football game October 28, 1990 at Candlestick park in San Francisco, California. Newsome played for the Browns from 1978-90. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Best Cleveland Browns pass-catcher No. 1: Ozzie Newsome

Ozzie Newsome has to be No. 1 on this list. No, he wasn’t a wide receiver but rather a tight end, but he’s still the best of the bunch.

The NFL Hall of Fame member played his entire 13-year career wearing the orange and brown. He was Mr. Cleveland and when the Browns moved to Baltimore in 1995 to become the Ravens and Newsome became the Ravens general manager. It really hurt the love affair of many Browns fans’ favorite player — but we won’t go any further into that saga.

What Newsome provided in his stellar career while a Brown was tremendous. He finished with 662 catches and had 7,980 yards and scored 47 touchdowns.

Some may recall it was Newsome who was supposed to catch the game-winner back in 1981 when then Browns quarterback Brian Sipe threw that fateful interception. The play known as ‘Red Right 88’ will be part of Cleveland sports history forever. Unfortunately.

Newsome made it to the Pro Bowl three times during his career and his best seasons were in 1981 and 1984. First in ’81,  he caught 69 passes for 1,002 yards. Then in 1984, he caught 89 passes for 1,001 yards. While his career slowed a bit starting in 1986, he still would catch 30 passes and collect 300 yards and score a few touchdowns.

The 1999 Hall of Fame Inductee will likely go down in Browns history as one of the all-time greats. The oddity that he ended up going to Baltimore to help that franchise start up and then win Super Bowls for them only makes the relationship more strained, but one can’t deny what a legend Newsome was to an already storied franchise.

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