Top 10 all-time best Cleveland Browns players since ’99
By John Suchan
No. 4 all-time Cleveland Browns player since 1999-Braylon Edwards, WR
Even though he was drafted out of Michigan and wasn’t a fan favorite, Braylon Edwards still did enough to earn him a spot in our top 10. There was a lot of hype when Edwards was selected at No. 3 overall in the 2005 NFL Draft.
He was going to be that next great No. 1 wide receiver that the team had been waiting for. Unfortunately, back in 2005, the Browns were already running through quarterbacks and that’s never a good thing when you’re trying to develop a quarterback and wide receiver connection.
That first season for Edwards was less than spectacular as he started with Trent Dilfer as the Cleveland quarterback. He finished that season with 32 receptions for 512 yards and three touchdowns.
He steadily got better in the next few years and had his lone Pro Bowl season in 2007 when the Browns should have made it to the playoffs with a 10-6 record but faltered down the stretch of that campaign and got shut out of the postseason. He had a decent 2008 campaign but then got traded to the New York Jets in 2009 after playing the first four games.
Edwards calling card while he was in Cleveland was that he scored touchdowns often. He ended up with 28 of them in his 62 games. He totaled 238 receptions for 3, 697 yards in all while a member of the Browns. Edwards had some impressive individual performances in his four seasons in Northeast Ohio.
In 2006, he had a game where he caught seven passes for 137 yards. By 2007, he recorded another four games with at least 100 yards. In 2008, he enjoyed the spotlight on Monday Night Football when he went for 154 yards on just five catches that included an 11-yard touchdown late in the game against the New York Giants.
A close runner-up in this top 10 was another wide receiver Jarvis Landry, who played for the Browns from 2018 to 2022. He did a lot in recent years to bring the Browns back from having lousy teams.
He finished his career with 3,560 yards and 15 touchdowns in 59 games. So, the statistical numbers were similar between the two wide receivers, but Edwards had many more touchdowns and had the ability to better separate from the defenders and stretch the field.