@the-gipper said:

Actually...if you think about it.....we probably got more "decent" picks out of that draft with Couch, KJ, McCutcheon,  than we did in the next several drafts....with the likes of Courtney Brown and Gerard Warren. 

Almost EVERY draft since 1999 has been terrible, almost. 

The last 3 may have reached an "average" status.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/draft.htm

Felix Wright

Couple years of S/T and situational sub'ing before becoming a 4-year starter for us... spending 2 at FS and 2 at SS. In his first season as SS he picked 9 passes. All totaled as a Brown he picked 26 regular season passes... good for 11th all-time... and had another 4 picks in the post-season.

@flugel said:

Makes perfect sense to me!  Thanks for sharing that Al! 

the last player to wear the great #34 was carlos hyde and now no one uses it 

which player do you see as worthy to wear #34

@alporcini said:

As I recall in college at OU his jersey read Hello on the front, goodbye on the back. 

Makes perfect sense to me!  Thanks for sharing that Al! 

@flugel said:

LOVED that guy!   He's my avatar.  I don't know if he was underrated (4 Pro Bowls for Browns & 1 for Raiders) or just forgotten by non-Cleveland fans due to all the injuries that cut seasons/overall career short. Those that saw him don't forget him.  Very fun to watch. Until Nick Chubb (also drafted in the upper part of round 2 like Pruitt) - I haven't seen a lot of RBs here that could score from anywhere on the field. 

I think his strength and power at 190 lbs was underrated as you alluded to above.  He is always mentioned as the reason those jerseys no longer exist.  Pruitt held the Superstars record for the overhead press with 325 pounds until a very roided up Mark Gastineau at 275 lbs eventually broke it a few years later.

As I recall in college at OU his jersey read Hello on the front, goodbye on the back. 

@mjp28 said:

Well he did one thing he met a girl from Westlake, Ohio Carmella DeCesare who was half Italian half Puerto Rican and the playmate of the year in 2004, They had a bunch of kids and did pretty well together.  She's still a babe !

mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmmmmmmmmm

@icecube said:

He definitely was in a bad position. I felt bad for him. But honestly, he would have to landed on a perfect team to do well. (Like most QBs I guess). 

Jeff Garcia didn't do anything in Cleveland either, but he was underrated for his career. 

Well he did one thing he met a girl from Westlake, Ohio Carmella DeCesare who was half Italian half Puerto Rican and the playmate of the year in 2004, They had a bunch of kids and did pretty well together.  She's still a babe !

@flugel said:

I agree Nickers.  I thought he provided solid dual purpose that didn't tip tendencies. Had underrated hands and could help set the edge a lot better than Winslow (after multiple knee surgeries).  I wouldn't mind finding a guy like this for us today. 

He's pretty much what you look for prototypically in a TE.. Size, Good hands, Decent wheels and blocks... I would take that any ol day...

@icecube said:

He definitely was in a bad position. I felt bad for him. But honestly, he would have to landed on a perfect team to do well. (Like most QBs I guess). 

Jeff Garcia didn't do anything in Cleveland either, but he was underrated for his career. 

Jeff Garcia also married a Playmate of the Year from NE Ohio. 

So, I guess if you are an underrated (or overrated) Browns QB....you get to marry a Playmate. 

@icecube said:

Hey brother, you may be right, but I'm just going on the eye test of what I remember. KJ is obviously not a Hall of Famer, but he was one of the few picks that draft that was decent.

Actually...if you think about it.....we probably got more "decent" picks out of that draft with Couch, KJ, McCutcheon,  than we did in the next several drafts....with the likes of Courtney Brown and Gerard Warren. 

@tour2ma said:

John Greco....

Back when we had a really good OL John was everyone's afterthought.

Started two years next to Joe T. at LG. Flipped seamlessly to RG when Bito came along and elevated Schwartz's game when he moved.

Played heavy in our power run scheme and then shed 20 pounds to get quicker when we went to the ZBS.

Twice stabilized our Center play... once when Mack was injured... once when Erving face planted

The guy brought his lunch pail to Berea for 5 good seasons before injury ground him down.

Great choice here Tour - especially considering he was mostly a backup with the Rams  in 2008, 2009 and 2010 before we traded for him! One of the conditions of this trade in terms of what round draft pick we would give up was based on if he started or not in Cleveland in 2011. He did not start a game for us in 2011 so the conditional pick we gave up for him was a 7th round pick in 2012.

Speaking of 2012, he started 12 games for us after an injury to Jason Pinkston.  He played well enough to get himself a 5 year contract extension on July 23, 2013 that could earn him up to $13 million with $3 million Guaranteed. The rest is better said above...

I'm glad I see a thread like this. It reminds me that our fans do remember what some of the guys have put on the line here; and it's not always from the players the show up with the sexiest football resumes.  It's guys that show up with imperfections that fully understand that anything less than a "blue collar all you got" won't keep them here for long.   When they succeed from this mentality - it's nice to see fans appreciating it. 

@atom said:

Greg Pruitt the king of the tear away jersey

LOVED that guy!   He's my avatar.  I don't know if he was underrated (4 Pro Bowls for Browns & 1 for Raiders) or just forgotten by non-Cleveland fans due to all the injuries that cut seasons/overall career short. Those that saw him don't forget him.  Very fun to watch. Until Nick Chubb (also drafted in the upper part of round 2 like Pruitt) - I haven't seen a lot of RBs here that could score from anywhere on the field. 

I think his strength and power at 190 lbs was underrated as you alluded to above.  He is always mentioned as the reason those jerseys no longer exist.  Pruitt held the Superstars record for the overhead press with 325 pounds until a very roided up Mark Gastineau at 275 lbs eventually broke it a few years later.

@nickers said:

Steve "Eric" Heiden..

I thought he was a pretty good TE.. Caught and blocked pretty well for a journeyman TE

I agree Nickers.  I thought he provided solid dual purpose that didn't tip tendencies. Had underrated hands and could help set the edge a lot better than Winslow (after multiple knee surgeries).  I wouldn't mind finding a guy like this for us today. 

Tony Jones LT, Undrafted, Played for us from 88-95 and ended his career in Denver in 2000.  Was the best linemen we had on the last Cleveland Browns team that won a playoff game before he started in 2 SBs for Denver and made a Pro Bowl in 98.  Had a 12 year career; and IMO he got robbed of a Pro Bowl in 95.   The good news is when he went to SBs - he finally got the credit he deserved, right Clay Matthews?  

Hank Fraley. After losing LeCharles Bentley in 2006, Cleveland traded with Philly to land him.  Philly had already demoted him to 2nd string in their 2006 training camp following his injury shortened season in 2005.   So, exactly how was this former Robert Morris football player going to be the solution to the loss of LeCharles Bentley?  I'll start with the reminder that 2-3 auditions before him failed miserably leading to the desperation for Cleveland to trade for him.  We ended up receiving a reliable and scrappy student of the game that could make all the line calls; and pull around either end from his Center position (which the book cover didn't advertise).  As fate would have it in 2007, Joe Thomas became our LT and Eric Steinbach was the LG sandwiched between Fraley and Thomas.  To the right of Fraley we had Ryan Tucker (12 starts)/Seth McKinney (4 starts) and Kevin Shaffer playing his best football (no longer on the blind side of QB). In the end, Fraley was a very valuable guy that made all the line calls and provided veteran leadership during that year Cleveland went 10-6 in 2007.  

@icecube said:

Cherry picking. How was Couch for a #1 overall pick for the Browns? KJ, as a 2nd rounder, was, by far, a better pick. Couch set them back 7 years.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/CoucTi00.htm

Wholly disagree.   Couch was the better pick.  Who do you think was throwing it to KJ?   It was not Couch. The ownership screwed things up for this team....Couch just got hammered so badly behind poor OLs that it eventually caught up with him with injuries. 

But, remember, he married a Playmate of the Year  from NE Ohio. 

@browns149 said:

I don’t think Couch was the problem 

The fact he was surrounded by crap was the problem 

He definitely was in a bad position. I felt bad for him. But honestly, he would have to landed on a perfect team to do well. (Like most QBs I guess). 

Jeff Garcia didn't do anything in Cleveland either, but he was underrated for his career. 

@icecube said:

Eric Turner. An enforcer. 

I still have a #29 jersey 

The fact he was surrounded by crap was the problem 

@the-gipper said:

The stat that I am using above would say you are wrong.

KJ  had a .31  game to game production score.

Couch had a .48  score.  The fact is,  Couch was "decent"  until injured. Just put into terrible circumstances...but still was the primary QB in the Browns only playoff season since 1994. 

Daylon McCutcheon had a .32 score.     Now THERE may be your underrated player.  He played in 103 games for the Browns in 7 years.  12 Ints.   2 returned for TDs.  431 tackles made in those years 

Cherry picking. How was Couch for a #1 overall pick for the Browns? KJ, as a 2nd rounder, was, by far, a better pick. Couch set them back 7 years.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/CoucTi00.htm

@the-gipper said:

The stat that I am using above would say you are wrong.

KJ  had a .31  game to game production score.

Couch had a .48  score.  The fact is,  Couch was "decent"  until injured. Just put into terrible circumstances...but still was the primary QB in the Browns only playoff season since 1994. 

Daylon McCutcheon had a .32 score.     Now THERE may be your underrated player.  He played in 103 games for the Browns in 7 years.  12 Ints.   2 returned for TDs.  431 tackles made in those years 

Hey brother, you may be right, but I'm just going on the eye test of what I remember. KJ is obviously not a Hall of Famer, but he was one of the few picks that draft that was decent.

He was a beast of a runner

@the-gipper said:

Joe D is in as an equal  between the Bills and Browns.  See this link to the PFHOF site.  Hall of Famers by Franchise.  They indicate here that they have teams in bold if a player has played the primary part of his career with a particular team.  Joe D is in bold for both Browns and Bills:

https://www.profootballhof.com/heroes-of-the-game/franchises/

did not know this..cool list & what virus did i have not knowing Ed Reed finished his playing career as a Houston Texan & a NY Jet in 2013? playing as old Ed, got Reed paid another 1.3M  

@d-bone said:

Leroy Hoard for me....... loved the way he ran. 

Leroy Hoard at #87, yet Orpheus Roye at #47??

There's a picture of Leroy in the dictionary next to the word Underrated.