3 Cleveland Browns make Pro Football Focus’ One-Year Wonder Team

Three Cleveland Browns make Pro Football Focus’ One-Year Wonder Team.

Great minds think alike. Apparently. This very website just covered six of the greatest one-year wonders in the last 21 years for the Cleveland Browns and now Pro Football Focus is coming to join the proverbial pool party. In a new article from the website, they selected three Cleveland Browns to be on their Pro Football Focus One-Year Wonder Team.

Of those three names, two are pretty obvious in Peyton Hillis and Terrelle Pryor Jr, both having appeared on our lists, spoilers. Hillis and Pryor were a running back and wide receiver respectively for the Browns for two years individually, though not at the same time. Hillis earned the Madden Cover during his tenure, while Pryor had earned a multi-year deal from the Browns, only to spurn them for the Washington Redkins.

Both men were seen as huge potential building blocks for the team going forward but neither ended up being such due to different reasons.

From PFF: Peyton Hillis

"Hillis is a unique case in that his one-year run was immortalized in the form of becoming the cover man for Madden 12. In the previous season — the 2010 campaign for Cleveland — Hillis ran for 1,181 yards (11th in NFL) while forcing 31 missed tackles on the ground (tied for 10th at the position). From a grading perspective, it wasn’t a dominant rushing performance, but Hillis did grade out as one of the best receiving running backs in the NFL with an 87.9 receiving grade on the season (second to Pierre Thomas among running backs with 100 or more routes run).He was never able to match that output again. Hillis’ 587 rushing yards in 2011 — a year marred by injuries and contract disputes — were the most he would record in a single season for the rest of his career."

From PFF: Terrelle Pryor Jr.

"Pryor is one of the more interesting stories in the NFL over the past decade. In 2013, he got his opportunity as the starter at quarterback for the Oakland Raiders, but his 53.9 overall grade on just over 500 snaps that year put an end to his time as a signal-caller. After bouncing around a bit, Pryor landed with Cleveland, where he would go on to have a massive year as one of the team’s starting wide receivers in 2016. He caught 77 of 132 targets for over 1,000 receiving yards, earning a 79.6 receiving grade that ranked 19th among 93 wide receivers with at least 200 routes run. Injuries have limited Pryor to just under 500 receiving yards in the three seasons since 2016 — a stretch that has seen him sign with four different NFL teams."

Yet, the one that caught some by surprise, considering the multitude of one-year wonders that the team has had in the last 16 years (their coverage area for the piece), is former Pro Bowl tight end Gary Barnidge. The former tight end played for the Carolina Panthers and then the Browns. Barndige ended up making the Pro Bowl shortly after the Browns lost fellow Pro Bowl tight end, Jordan Cameron; who went to the Miami Dolphins.

From PFF: Gary Barnidge

"Just four positions deep into our list, the Browns are already at three nominees. There aren’t many players who hang around for seven seasons in the NFL and then break out the way Barnidge did in 2015. From being selected in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers through the 2014 season, Barnidge caught 44 total passes and had just three touchdowns. In 2015 alone, he put up 79 receptions for 1,043 yards and nine touchdowns. All of those were top-five marks at the tight end position, and his 28 receptions of 15 or more yards were fewer than only Rob Gronkowski and Greg Olsen.Barnidge would have some success the following year — though not at the same level as in 2015 — and he wouldn’t play again after being released by the Browns leading up to the 2017 season."

There are numerous one-year wonders from the Browns that fit the criteria for PFF’s team, so the fact it’s only three names is a bit shocking. Cameron, Paul Kruger, Derek Anderson, Braylon Edwards, Kellen Winslow II, Ruben Drougnhs, heck even Trent Richardson could make the list. It’s kind of the thing the team was known for until recently.

Thankfully that time period is over.