50 Greatest Browns of All-Time: Preview
This is the beginning of a series of articles about the 50 Greatest Browns. This article will explain the process to compile the list as well as share some questions I had before tabulating the numbers.
First, I made a list of all players who played at least five seasons for the Browns. I felt that five was a good round number that would eliminate many players who shouldn’t be in the conversation. The downside of the five-year rule is that it kept current players like Joel Bitonio and Christian Kirksey off the list, who may be more deserving than some of the players who are on the list.
Second, after compiling a list of over 150 possible players to choose from, I enlisted the help of my fellow CST writers to rank the 15 players that each person thought were the best. After they submitted their 15 players, I gave each player points based on rank. For example, if a player was rated a one, he would get 15 points, a two would get 14 points, etc. While the rankings will be based on opinions, there will be some information about each player that will be factual.
There were some things I was interested in seeing once the rankings would start coming in. Here are a few questions I had:
1. How many QBs will be on the list?
2. Presuming #1 is obvious, who will be #2?
3. How many players will be from the reborn Browns (i.e. post-1999)?
4. How many people will be on every ballot?
Lists like this one often breed debate and I look forward to the reactions of people who read the upcoming articles.
