The Browns 10 best-undrafted players since 1999.
The Browns are just like any other team in that major free agents and the drafted players of a given year aren’t the only ones to make up a roster. There are also undrafted free agents. Soon-to-be rookies who didn’t get picked by a given NFL team, but are given a shot to still become pros.
The Browns have had some good success with the undrafted variety of rookies. No clear-cut Hall of Famers, but three who should seriously be considered as such. We’re talking franchise leaders, NFL record-breakers, and Super Bowl-winning players. Just to keep this in mind, we’re emphasizing a player’s time with Cleveland, though work done outside of Cleveland won’t be completely ignored.
The odds any of those three get in aren’t great but there’s at least a discussion for them to get in. Before we get to the top of the class, let’s take a look at some of the honorable mentions.
Honorable Mention
TE Mark Campbell (1999)
Mark Campbell’s nine-year NFL career started in Cleveland, where he became the team’s starter due to his blocking. A skill the offensive line needed help with.
WR KhaDarel Hodge
Technically a Rams’ undrafted free agent, KhaDarle Hodge made some plays happen in 2020 when others were hurt.
OLB James Burgess (2016)
He’s bounced around the league but as the son of a former NFL player, he keeps getting shots. He peaked his rookie year with 4.5 sacks.
CB Briean Boddy-Calhoun (2016)
A solid corner but never a difference-maker.
RB D’Ernest Johnson (2018)
Backing up Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb is a pretty easy job, but when he’s had chances to finally get in, he’s done well.
RB Dontrell Hilliard (2018)
A solid pass-catching running back who can make plays in space but not too many big ones to write home about.
10. DE Porter Gustin (2019)
Porter Gustin isn’t without his flaws, admittedly so, but he seems to be a piece the Browns like for the long-term. He’s not a great pass rusher off the edge, but he could always develop to be. Think about CFL and Miami Dolphin legend Cameron Wake. It took him a while to figure it out. So there’s still hope for Gustin.
What Gustin is great at, however, is sealing off the edge and getting depth against the run. It’s not a forgone conclusion that he’ll be around the Browns for the long haul, but the Browns are still going to need some help and depth up-front. Myles Garrett has had injuries and COVID over the last few years, and the hope is that 2021 sees him return to form and finally play a full season, but if he’s not Gustin is on standby.
Plus you have Jadeveon Clowney now, but like Garrett, Clowney isn’t always able to play. Plus, unlike Garrett, Clowney isn’t a great pass rusher. He’s a far more high-priced version of Gustin. A defensive end who can play good (maybe even great) defense against teams who run the ball.
Gustin could probably put up much bigger figures if he plays more than 30% of the snaps. He would also be of use inside if the Browns don’t end up having a great interior squad this year. Who knows where Gustin will be in a year from now if he’d even be on this list in 2021. For right now, his involvement in the Browns’ first playoff team since 2002 fully qualifies him to be on this list.
LB Craig Robertson (2011)
The 33-year-old linebacker may have finally played his last down but Craig Robertson certainly defied expectations. He played four seasons with the Browns and was a starter for most of three seasons. During his time with the Browns, he had 80+ tackles three times in his career, and was even one of the more consistent players in 2014, when the Browns went 7-9.
That was his best season as a tackler, racking up 99 that year. He finished second on the team in tackles that year, just seven behind Donte Whitner.
He’d spend the next two years bringing the same kind of havoc to the New Orleans Saints, starting in the middle of their defense. He would end up dealing with injuries in both Cleveland and New Orleans. It was part of the reason the Browns passed on giving him a new deal after his rookie contract expired, and was a major reason why the Saints moved him to a rotational guy and special teams player.
Beyond just sticking people, Robertson was a pretty solid pass-defender as well. During his time in Cleveland, he racked up six interceptions in four years, and had at least one every year he played in Cleveland.
If he never plays another down, he far exceeded his expectations as a professional football player.
RB Jamel White (2000)
Joining the Browns in 2000, the often unheralded running back put up two very good seasons in 2001, and 2002, topping 800 total yards from scrimmage in each. His versatility as a runner and a pass-catcher made the Browns’ offense more functional with him than without. In 2001 the Browns rushing attack was abhorrent and wasn’t much better in 2002.
At least in 2002, the Browns had an upgrade at running back in William Green. While no Pro-Bowler, the starter in 2001 was James Jackson, who only went in the third round because his old college coach, Butch Davis, was heavily influencing the draft.
White was able to provide an offensive sucker punch of sorts in both ’01 and ’02, catching many teams by surprise. The addition of Green turned out to be a great thing for White, who ended up having the best season of his career in 2002, hitting 470 yards rushing, and passing 450 yards receiving.
The reason he’s ninth is that he only really had those two years. Bad team play and injuries slowed him down. He also did it in an era where running backs like him weren’t valued. The mindset was “we have receivers if we want to throw”. So guys like him and eventually the Eagles’ Michael Westbrook would become gadget players, and not guys to utilize fully like the Panthers’ Christian McCaffery.
P Jamie Gillan (2020)
Most kickers and punters are undrafted free agents, so it’s not that surprising that Jamie Gillan is on the list. Entering his third year on the team, Gillan rose to fame as a rookie for his long locks and his impressive nickname as the Scottish Hammer. As a native of Scotland, Gillan came from a ruby background, a sport he played while in Scotland.
After his father moved to the United States as part of his Royal Airforce assignment, Gillan took up football instead and became very successful in college. During his pre-draft workout, Gillan reportedly was kicking the balls so hard that he popped three of them.
Gilland a big rookie year, averaging 46.2 yards per punt, which was good enough for 10th in the league. While he demonstrated a big leg and great accuracy, the problem with your punter having a good year is that it’s a sign your offense didn’t. Often times you’re kicking from deep in the opposing team’s half and you’re looking to get as much distance as possible on your punts.
In 2020, his stats dropped because the offense got better. Now he was kicking past the 50-yard line and was trying to keep opposing teams inside the 20-yard line, so his average dropped to 44.0.
Still, despite that, he has only had one punt blocked and has shown an incredible ability to do his job. Gillan should be around for a long time.
RB Isaiah Crowell (2014)
The Browns thought they had the next Kevin Mack and Ernest Byner in 2014 (shout out to the 7-9 Browns!) As rookies, both Isiah Crowell and Terrence West eclipsed 600 yards as rookies. Crowell had eight rushing touchdowns and West had four, making their individual seasons pretty solid if viewed as a unit.
After 2014, however, Crowell would go on to be the primary runner with West heading over to Baltimore eventually.
In Cleveland, Crowell had 3,118 yards rushing, another 770 yards receiving, 21 rushing touchdowns, and a single passing touchdown to his credit.
Crowell had his best season in 2016 where he posted 952 yards rushing on just 198 attempts for a near Nick Chubb-like average of 4.8 yards per carry. Crowell, like Craig Robertson before him, wouldn’t see the field for the Browns again after 2017.
The team decided to pass on bringing him back with Duke Johnson already on the roster and them eyeing a prospect in the draft. A prospect that would end up being Chubb himself.
So while Crowell was a good player for a while, the Browns ultimately made the right pick. Crowell would go on to play one more season with the Jets but hasn’t made it back onto another team since 2018, mostly due to a torn Achilles that he suffered while a member of the then-named Oakland Raider.s
CB Leigh Bodden (2003)
Leigh Bodden entered the league in 2003, coming out of Duquesne and becoming one of the biggest names out of the college to make the NFL. Bodden came in at a time that the cornerback situation was in flux, with Daylon McCutcheon winding down his playing career and Anthony Henry leaving to go to Dallas in free agency.
Bodden was a needed piece to the Browns during that time period. While he was never a genuine number one and was often beat by the league’s best receivers, what he was able to do was good enough at times.
He was a key component on the 2007 Browns team that went 10-6, and defensively, few people were as important as him. Granted, the defense was 30th in the league in yards given up, and 29th in the league in fewest passing touchdowns given up by a defense, but imagine how much worse it would’ve been without Bodden.
He gave back to the Browns in way of a trade with the Lions, who sent back Shaun “Big Baby” Rogers in exchange for Bodden. Rogers would go on to the Pro Bowl for the Browns, while Bodden would then move to the Patriots after just one season in Detroit.
Bodden’s second-biggest claim to fame besides the Rogers-trade was being part of the 0-16 Lions squad in his one season in Detroit.
S Tashaun Gipson (2012)
Tashaun Gipson is the only former Browns player to still be active in the league in 2021. Currently signed with the Chicago Bears, Gipson spent his first four years in Cleveland as an undrafted free agent. Despite not getting drafted, Gipson was able to somehow make the Pro Bowl, and then not get an acceptable contract offer from Cleveland.
Gipson was part of an exodus from Cleveland in 2016 when Sashi Brown took over. Joining Gipson on his way out the door was three-time Pro Bowl center and future Hall of Famer, Alex Mack who went to the Atlanta Falcons. They also lost stalwart right tackle Mitchell Schwartz who went to the Kansas City Chiefs and anchored an offensive line that won a Super Bowl. Not to mention wide receiver and returner Travis Benjamin who went to the then-San Diego Chargers.
Gipson wound up in Jacksonville for a spell and was a major part of the Jaguars defense that went to the AFC Championship game in 2017 and was top-six defense three years in a row.
Now in Chicago, Gipson still has something left in the tank.
C/G Shaun O’Hara (2000)
When we talk about players the Browns had no business letting go of, Shaun O’Hara takes the cake. While it’s not readily obvious why he left the Browns in 2004, O’Hara became a standout with the New York Giants from 2004 on. He won a Super Bowl and went to three Pro Bowls during his tenure with New York. He even achieved a second-team All-Pro nod in 2008.
O’Hara was never given the respect he deserved after coming in as an undrafted free agent in 2000. He was a spot-starter with the Browns his first two years, playing behind respected veteran center Dave Wohlabaugh. In O’Hara’s third and fourth years in Cleveland, O’Hara moved to guard, where he played on both sides of the center over the next two seasons.
He’d end up bouncing around the Browns offensive line during his tenure and was part of the first playoff team in the expansion era, but either due to poor management or seeing the writing on the wall for the club, O’Hara had enough and bouned on over to the Giants where he became a franchise legend.
He was arguably the best Browns player on the offensive line from the franchise’s inception in 1999 to the drafting of Joe Thomas.
K Phil Dawson (1998)
Phil Dawson spent 14 of 21 years in Cleveland is a pretty impressive feat. Like with others on this list, the Browns were the ones who decided to not bring back arguably the greatest kicker in franchise history. Dawson was originally a class of 1998 player, having kicked for the Texas Longhorns and having a longer and more successful career than his Heisman-winning teammate Ricky Williams.
Dawson would spend one pre-season in Oakland with the Raiders before getting cut and moving on to New England. Eventually, the Browns came calling in time for their inaugural 1999 season. Dawson would then kick for the Browns for 14 seasons, where he’d set all sorts of kicking records for the Cleveland-based squad.
Despite his abilities and skillset, he only went to one Pro Bowl in 2012, his last year in Cleveland, but was a two-time Second-team All-Pro Player in 2007 and 2012.
Dawson saw the only two winning seasons the Browns had before 2020 and was a key component of those squads. Dawson, alongside Chris Gardocki and Josh Cribbs, all stood out as special team players who were considered one of, if not the best in the league at their positions when they were with the Browns. Dawson overlapped with Gardocki’s tenure, which ended after 2003, and Cribbs, which started in 2005.
Dawson signed a one-day contract in 2019 to retire a member of the Browns.
RS/WR Josh Cribbs (2005)
There was no doubt that it’d be Josh Cribbs. Like with Phil Dawson, Cribbs is a Browns legend and just like his kicking-cohort, arguably deserves to be in the Hall of Fame but likely won’t be due to their status as “special teams players”. Which is a weak copout to keep good, deserving players out of the Hall of Fame.
For Cribbs, a former Kent State Goldenflash quarterback, playing in the NFL was what he wanted to do. It just wouldn’t be as a quarterback, as he was picked up by the Browns in 2005 to play receiver. He’d eventually start doing special teams as well and not just as a returner. Cribbs was also one of the better tacklers on kick-off and punt teams.
In his first four years in the league, he had 70 tackles, most coming from a special team’s unit.
During Cribbs’ time in Cleveland, he racked up 10,015 yards and three touchdowns while returning punts, another 14,065 yards returning kicks, as well as eight more touchdowns. He also had 1,161 yards receiving, another seven receiving touchdowns, another 808 yards rushing, and two more rushing touchdowns.
All together, Cribbs had 25,994 total yards and 20 total touchdowns as a ball carrier. It’ll be unlikely the Browns ever find an undrafted player as productive as Cribbs was, making him one of a kind.