Monday 25 January 2016

Browns By The Numbers - 1, 2, 3!

I am going to start some recurring posts showing Cleveland Browns grouped by the numbers that they wore. Depending on the amount of Browns wearing any given number I may look at more than one number in a post.

Images of the players wearing Browns uniforms will be taken from The Trading Card Database, although I am going to try to only use images of cards in my collection. If I don't own a card that I am using, I will note it.

I'm using Pro Football Reference as a reference source for the numbers. (I think that I have a fairly recent Browns media guide or yearbook at home that has a section on numbers and the players that wore them. I will have to look for it and compare it to what I find on Pro Football Reference.)

To start, let's look at numbers 1, 2 and 3!

Number 1

Michael Jackson     WR     1991-1992
1991 Upper Deck #610
It appears that Michael Jackson is the only player has worn the number 1 for the Cleveland Browns. He ended up switching his number to 81 after the 1992 season.


Number 2

Jerry Kauric        K     1990
Tim Couch         QB   1999-2003
Reggie Hodges   P      2010-2012
Johnny Manziel  QB   2014-2015

1990 Score Supplemental #2T
I was aware of his kicking in the CFL before he signed with the Browns. A Canadian, his NFL career consisted of 14 games in the 1990 season where he was 14-20 on FGs, and 24-27 on PATs. An interesting statistic that jumps out from his record is that he had a reception for 21 yards against the 49ers on October 28, 1990.

2002 Sports Illustrated for Kids #189
Tim Couch, of the Kentucky Wildcats, was the #1 pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. He had a 22-37 record as the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns.
 
 
I do not have a card of Reggie Hodges, who punted for the Browns from 2009-2012. He wore number 3 in his eight games of the 2009 season before switching to number 2.
2015 Topps #56

Not too much to say about Johnny Manziel. I figure everyone knows enough about him already.
 
 
Number 3
Mark Moseley                    K             1986
Goran Lingmerth               K             1987
Matt Stover                        K             1991-1995
Derek Anderson               QB           2006-2009
Reggie Hodges                 P              2009
Jarrett Brown                    QB          2011
Brandon Weeden              QB          2012-2013
Pat Devlin                         QB          2015
   
Mark Moseley, the long-time Washington Redskins kicker, finished his career with four games with the Browns. In that short period, he was 6-7 in FGs, and 13-14 in PATs. Yep, that's right. 14 PAT attempts in four games. To compare, this year's kicker, Travis Coons, attempted 24 for the season. Unfortunately, with such a short stay in Cleveland, Moseley does not have a Browns card.
 
 
Goran Lingmerth was born in Sweden, and played his college ball for the Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks. During the 1986 college season, he set a NCAA record by kicking 8 field goals in a game. In 1987, he attended training camp with the Philadelphia Eagles, and then as a replacement player played one game for the Cleveland Browns, although he had no scoring attempts.
 
 
1995 Topps #64

Matt Stover had a 19 year career in the NFL after being drafted by the New York Giants in 1990. Never playing for the Giants, he kicked for Cleveland from 1991 until the move to Baltimore after the 1995 season. He then kicked in Baltimore until the end of the 2008 season, before finishing his career with one year in Indianapolis.
 
2008 Playoff Prestige #23
Derek Anderson had a Pro Bowl season for the Browns in 2007. He is currently the backup quarterback for the Carolina Panthers.
 
 
As stated above, Reggie Hodges wore number 3 before switching to number 2.
 
 
Former West Virginia Mountaineer Jarrett Brown is listed by Pro Football Reference as having worn number 3 for the Browns but I don't believe that he ever played in a game for the team.
2013 Topps Archives #92

Brandon Weeden started 20 games for the Browns in his two seasons with the team. In the 2015 season he started games for both the Cowboys and the Texans.
 
 
I believe that Pat Devlin was with the Browns during the last preseason. He was then signed by the team in December as quarterback depth after Josh McCown's injury. He did not play.

4 comments:

  1. Great series of posts. I have been considering doing something similar for the NBA at some point but I don't have enough scanned yet. Surprised to see #1 being so little used.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was always pulling for Tim Couch. My Mom's side of the family are big University of Kentucky fans so their was a rooting interest.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wonder if the Browns keep number 1 open so that they can always use that number at their draft day presentations? I mean, the first round pick always ends up presented with the number 1 and all, so maybe teams have avoided using that number?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting thought. It would make sense. It makes me curious.

      Delete