Cleveland Browns have 2 Hall of Fame nominees for 2024

The Cleveland Browns will participate in the 2023 NFL Hall of Fame Game as they face the New York Jets on Aug. 3. The reason for their inclusion falls on the shoulders of Joe Thomas, the former superstar left tackle who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year.

Looking ahead to 2024, the Browns might have more names joining the ranks in Canton in the near future. On Wednesday, 60 semifinalists were announced as eligible with Clay Matthews and Marty Schottenheimer serving as nominees for the Browns.

Matthews played in the NFL for 19 years, the first 16 of which were in Cleveland. While with the Browns, he made the Pro Bowl four times and was once named to the Second-Team All-Pro. He was a defensive leader that helped them reach the playoffs five consecutive times and finished his Cleveland career with 1,430 tackles, 75 unofficial sacks, and 14 interceptions.

From there, he spent the final three seasons of his career with the Atlanta Falcons. Matthews played until he was 40 years of age and had 6.5 sacks in his final season in the league.

Schottenheimer is seventh all-time in the NFL with 200 wins and won the NFL Coach of the Year award in 2004 while with the San Diego Chargers.

His first head coaching job was in Cleveland and he spent five years there from 1984 through 1988. Schottenheimer is fourth in franchise history with 44 wins. He even led them to three double-digit winning seasons in a row before being drove out by Art Modell — just another reason to despise that man.

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