@mudfly said:

Here are the years and players taken when the Browns have had two first round picks in a draft (regular draft):

1954 Bobby Garrett, John Bauer

1962 Gary Collins, Leroy Jackson

1970 Mike Phipps, Bob McKay

1973 Steve Holden, Pete Adams

1978 Clay Mathews, Ozzie Newsome

1994 Antonio Langham, Derrick Alexander

2007 Joe Thomas, Brady Quinn

2012 Trent Richardson, Brandon Weeden

2014 Justin Gilbert, Johnny Manziel

The ones in italics were top notch picks, the rest proved to be pretty much drek. In 5 of the 9 years when they have had 2 picks, they have taken a QB....none of which proved to be much good.

But note.....the Matthews/Newsome draft was the 5th time the Browns had 2 1st round picks. This year is the 10th time. Maybe the Browns get it right every 5th time this happens to them....and this year is their turn to draft 2 HOF or near HOF players. Fair to say?

Damn I hope Trey Flowers is still there in the 3rd. I agree with Gruden. He is our favorite unsung defensive player in this year's draft.

The 2 exceptions where we really scored, were 1978(obviously) when we got Clay Mathews and Ozzie......

...and the USFL supplemental draft(84) we traded some late picks and picked up a second first......and with our 2 firsts, we scored Kevin Mack and Mike Johnson.....wow!.....and in the "other" 1984 draft, we also tapped Don Rogers, Brian Brennan and Ernest Byner.......

1984 was a good year

@cuwoohio said:

Not surprising considering that the QBs in that era were Rudy Bukich, Virgil Carter, Jack Concannon, Gary Huff and Bob Avellini.

Also, they were in primary competition in the NFL, then NFC with the likes of the Packers dynasty, then the Dallas Doomsday Defense, the Vikings Purple People Eaters, and the Rams Fearsome Foursome. As good as Butkus was, he didn't have a ton of help on defense, and those teams had beast everywhere.

Plus the Browns were a damn good team, making the playoffs year after year, plus the Colts with Johnny U were still strong.

The Bears did not make the playoff from their title season of 1963 which was pre-Butkus/Sayers until 1977. Neither player ever played in a post season game.....except for the Pro Bowl if you want to count that.

People remember the injuries that Sayers had that cut his career short, but they don't remember that Butkus too only played 9 seasons due to the injuries he suffered from his ferocious style of play.

@the-gipper said:

Wow, Butkus and Sayers, and the Bears still couldn't win anything.......

Zombo said:

Here is the data. As you might expect, it happened more often in the early days of the draft:

Same Team having 2 picks in the Top 5 overall: (FYI, no team has ever had more than 2):

1941 Bears #1 Tom Harmon #3 Norm Standlee

1945 Boston Yanks #3 Joe Renfroe #4 Eddie Prokop

1948 Redskins #1 Harry Gilmer #4 Lowell Tew

1950 Lions #1 Leon Hart #5 Joe Watson

1954 Packers #3 Art Hunter #4 Veryl Switzer

1955 Colts #1 George Shaw #3 Alan Ameche

1956 Steelers #1 Gary Glick #5 Art Davis

1958 Cardinals #1 King Hill #2 John David Crow

1961 Redskins #2 Norm Snead #3 Joe Rutgen

1965 Bears #3 Dick Butkus #4 Gale Sayers

1966 Miami...AFL draft #1 Jim Grabowski #2 Rick Norton

1979 Bills #1 Tom Cousineau #5 Jerry Butler

1982 Colts #2 Johnnie Cooks #4 Art Schlichter

1992 Colts #1 Steve Emtman #2 Quentin Coryatt

1994 Colts #2 Marshall Faulk #5 Trev Alberts

2000 Redskins #2 Lavar Arrington, #3 Chris Samuels.

Bold are where a team had both top picks.

Red are Hall of Fame players

Lets just say that the Bears had the best top of the draft in history in 1965

Zombo