Cleveland Browns: The best drafted player at every position since 1999

Special Teams – Ryan Pontbriand

This is for all the kickers, punters, returners, and long snappers. Now, the obvious pick is Joshua Cribbs. He would’ve won it too, but he wasn’t drafted by the Browns. No, instead he was signed by the team in free agency after the draft.

Another player, Phil Dawson, would be another player you’d think would make this list but nope. Dawson was also a free agent signing, though he wasn’t even a rookie. Dawson’s rookie year was 1998 where he was picked up by the Oakland Raiders and New England Patriots for their practice squads.

That leaves us with Dennis Northcutt, Ryan Pontbriand and that’s about it. Sure, there were a few other draftees, but those are the two other big names that stand out as special teams players for the Browns. Northcutt never went to the Pro Bowl.

Pontbriand went twice. That may not seem too impressive as long snappers aren’t too valued in the league, but Pontbriand for a time was the best in the game at what he did. It shouldn’t matter if he wasn’t a regular position player, if you have a job to do then you do it.

Pontbriand was that guy. He showed up, he did his job and he did it better than anyone else in the game at the time. It may not seem like much, but when you’re a Browns fan you latch onto anything that you can boast about to your fellow football friends.

So yeah, we’ll take Pontbriand.