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The Cleveland Browns are no strangers to one-hit wonders, as memorable efforts from these players turned out to be a flash in the pan.
There hasn’t been much to celebrate since the Cleveland Browns returned in 1999, so when a player exceeds expectations, Cleveland fans will immediately look for ways to make said player The Emperor of the City.
You already know Peyton Hillis is on the list, as he’s the Patron Saint of Browns’ One-Hit Wonders. Look at what the fan base did for him. Hillis went from obscure Denver fullback to star Cleveland running back to the cover of Madden Football!
If there’s one thing that will move the meter with a pro athlete, it’s the Madden cover, because the marketing abilities are endless. If you get that gig, you’re probably a household name in football houses across the nation. And Hillis, through the help of the fan vote, got the cover. It still amazes me to this day.
With this list of Browns one-hit wonders, take a walk back in time and remember the players we thought were finally going to carry our beloved downtrodden franchise to the promised land.
1. Peyton Hillis
If every team had a Paul Bunyan figure, Peyton Hills would be the Browns.
It all seemed too good to be true. Hills showed up to Cleveland with 13 carries from the 2000 season. He was acquired in the trade that sent Brady Quinn to the Broncos.
When he got to Cleveland, he proceeded to rush for 1,177 yards and 10 touchdowns. Memorable games? Oh yeah. His 184-yard, two-touchdown effort against Bill Belichick and the mighty Patriots are the things legends are made of.
The future Hall of Fame coach even made a point to track Hillis down after the game to shake his hand.
From there, Hilis won the prize NFL players dream of: The cover of Madden. He spent his offseason dragging firetrucks across football fields in his home state of Arkansas. He was larger than life.
Then, it seems like he got strep throat and no one ever heard from him again. Well, that’s not technically true, but Hills’ star faded as quickly as it rose.
First, there was speculation he would retire to became an agent, a rumor Hillis attributed to the Browns as a way of bringing his price down. Then there was the throat. His toughness was questioned. When he returned, he hurt his hamstring, then he got married on a day he was supposed to be rehabbing.
In 2012, the illnesses and injuries limited Hillis to 10 games. He rushed for just 587 yards. The Browns didn’t even make an effort to keep him. Hillis went to Kansas City for a year, and then spent two years with the Giants before he called it a career.
2. Derek Anderson
Desperate for a franchise quarterback, the Cleveland Browns were banking on Brady Quinn as its quarterback of the future in 2007.
However, Derek Anderson was touched by the hand of Otto Graham, because the former Oklahoma State product came from nowhere to go 10-5 as a starter while throwing 29 touchdowns. He had the Browns within a blink of the playoffs and the future looked bright for the strapping,6-foot-6 signal caller with a rifle for an arm.
Then GM Phil Savage saw what he had and acted, signing Anderson to extension that would keep him in Cleveland. Depending on whom you ask, this is what did in the Browns of that era.
They had committed to Quinn by making him a first-round pick, but then, Anderson had his deal, and when you have two quarterbacks, you really have none.
Anderson started 18 more games the next two seasons because of injuries, and when he did play, he was never able to replicate his 2007 performance.
He’s a one-hit wonder for the Browns, but he actually had a long career. After Cleveland, Anderson did a stint in Arizona before he found himself in Carolina, where he backed up Cam Newton until he retired in 2018.
3. Jerome Harrison
Before getting into Jerome Harrison‘s stint with the Browns, it’s important to lead off with what happened to the the running back after his days in Cleveland. Sports are just a small piece of life in the grand scheme of things. The games we love to watch and debate are usually a fun distraction that provides many a break from real life.
In 2011, a physical revealed Harrison had a benign brain tumor. The surgery to remove it , in addition to a stroke, nearly killed Harrison. His family thought he’d be paralyzed, however No. 35 persevered, and can walk and use his arms.
In-between the lines, Browns fans had endured so many tough seasons by 2009 that all years were starting to blur together. That 2009 campaign sticks out as a particularly bad one, so thank goodness Harrison was a bright spot.
That season saw The Man-genius, Eric Mangini, in his first season as coach. Naturally, he gutted the roster, bringing in players he was familiar with from his day with the Jets.
It didn’t matter much, as the Browns had no quarterback. Derek Anderson was not the next Bernie Kosar and Brady Quinn’s career was trending toward bust.
The Browns were so offensively inept by the end of that season, they had no choice but to run the ball…a lot.
The results put Jerome Harrison in the same class as Jim Brown. On Dec. 20 on a cold dreary day in Kansas City, Harrison rushed for 286 yards and three touchdowns. The effort broke the team record held by Jim Brown, who rushed for 237 yards in 1957 and 1961.
Harrison would finish the season with two more 100-yard performances.
The Browns ended that season with four straight victories, and newly hired president Mike Holmgren kept Mangini, with the perception that the Browns were finally on the right tack.
4. Lee Suggs
It was Dec. 28, 2003 on the shores of the Ohio River. Fans of the Cleveland Browns finally thought they had their running back of the present and future.
Bolstered by touchdown runs of 76 and 25 yards, Suggs carried the ball 26 times for 186 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals. Of course, the Browns lost the game, but everyone had seen enough. Big things were to be expected from Suggs in 2004.
Suggs, a fourth-round pick out of Virginia Tech, had 289 yards in limited action during that rookie campaign, so you see why the Dawg Pound was booming with optimism.
However, the former Hokie went on to play in just 10 games the following season before injuries slowed him down. When he was healthy He rushed the ball 199 times for 744 yards (3.7 average).
In 20005, Suggs’ career was on life support. Cleveland had brought in Reuben Droughns to be its bell cow and the third-year veteran could only muster eight carries in eight games. By 2006, Suggs was in Miami, by the next season, at age 26, was out of the league.
5. Kelly Holcomb
Before Derek Anderson, Kelly Holcomb looked like the man who would rescue the Browns at quarterback.
And just like Anderson, all Holcomb really did was cause a quarterback controversy, win the job, and then not live up to expectations.
That said, Holcomb did give Browns’ fans some exciting football to watch, as he helped the Browns attain their only playoff appearance since 1999. In 2002, he filled in midway through the year when Couch battled injuries. The former No. 1 pick eventually returned to rip off some wins toward the end of the year, but broke his leg in the regular-season finale.
In came Holcomb, who got the start against the Steelers in the Wild Card playoff game. Holcomb balled out, throwing for 429 yards and three scores as the Browns almost shocked their division rival. Had Dennis Northcutt caught a pass at the end of the game to secure a first down, Cleveland would’ve gone on to win.
Holcomb went into training camp the next season and won the job from Couch. Then head coach Butch Davis called it a”Gut feeling.”
Davis’ stomach led him astray, because as It turns out, Holcomb wasn’t the franchise quarterback everyone expected him to be. Davis kept going back and forth between his two signal callers and neither worked out.
Holcomb ended his Browns’ career 4-9 as a starter. He played for Buffalo in 2005. His final season came with the Vikings in 2007.
6. William Green
“Run, William, Run.” The words of play-by-play man Jim Donovan remain the most memorable play call of the expansion era.
In the final week of the 2002 season, with the Browns needing a win to stay in the playoff picture, Green ripped off a 64-yard run against the Falcons to keep the Browns alive. For the game, Green had 178 yards.
He ended his rookie campaign by rushing for 726 yards in the final seven games of the season.
Taken as the 16th pick in the 2002 draft, Green looked poised to make good on his draft position.
It just didn’t happen. It’s been well documented the struggles Green endured growing up, and he wasn’t able to shake those demons free as an adult.
While serving a suspension, Green was arrested for drunk driving and marijuana possession. Just a few weeks later, he made headlines after being stabbed by his fiancee. The Browns were ready to part ties with him then, but ultimately kept him.
Fortunately, Green’s personal life rebounded, as he went on to marry his fiancee and the couple have three children. He’s now a youth minister, who gives motivational speeches.
He last appeared in a Browns uniform in 2005. He finished his career with 2,109 yards.