The Cleveland Browns will see their first-ever modern player in Joe Thomas go into the Hall of Fame this summer.
Joe Thomas has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the first time a modern Cleveland Browns player has been elected to the Hall since the team came back in 1999. While the club has seen four players before Thomas get enshrined since the team returned, all four of them had played for the previous club, with the most recent being Ozzie Newsome, who retired in 1990 and was voted into the Hall in 1999.
Thomas represents the first modern player to be drafted in or after 1999 to go into the Hall of Fame, and while he deserves it, several other players were well on their way to the Hall of Fame before things derailed their careers.
So yes, Thomas is a pure, authentic, and undeniable first-ballot Hall of Famer, but there were guys who left the league before Thomas who at one point in time looked like they could be Hall of Fame-bound had the team not screwed them up, or had injuries not taken them.
All three players had the talent to get in, but they did not have the stats or post-season accolades. The losing didn’t help either. All that said, all three could be inducted into the Cleveland Browns Ring of Honor or Legends programs at some point in the near future.
So who were the three names that were trending toward Hall of Fame status before Joe Thomas? Well, let’s see.
Kevin Johnson
This may not be the most obvious receiver to make the list, as Braylon Edwards or even Josh Gordon would’ve been a more obvious selection of guys who were on their way to the Hall of Fame, but for me, fewer guys showed their versatility and skills as Kevin Johnson did. Especially since he was able to be a big-time playmaker during an era of the Browns where he was the only one who was doing so.
Through his first three years, he had 2,752 yards receiving, and 18 touchdowns. Had he played 10 or 12 seasons of comparable stats, he’d have well over 11,000 yards, 70+ touchdowns, and every Browns’ receiving record imaginable. Yet, he was cut in 2003 for some reason and then failed to catch on anywhere else.
He was benched in ’03, and according to the Browns president Carmen Policy, Johnson wasn’t happy about that. So general manager and head coach Butch Davis made the call to move on from Johnson. While it’s not confirmed, there are some who believe that he played through too many injuries and it sapped him of his playmaking skills. Though that’s speculation.
The biggest issue is that there are some who rightfully believe Davis benched Johnson because he wasn’t one of Davis’ players, as he gave his spot to receiver Andre’ Davis. (not linebacker Andra Davis).
Johnson would land in Jacksonville after, then Baltimore and Detroit, and was out of football at 29.
Eric Steinbach
Erich Steinbach, like Kevin Johnson before him, didn’t have the off-field awards, but like Johnson, was seen as one of the best at his position for a long time. So much so that many considered Steinbach the biggest free agent acquisition ever when the club signed him away from the Cincinnati Bengals in 2007.
Steinbach played four years in Cleveland, missing just two games during his tenure, and only missed three games in his eight seasons between Cincinnati and Cleveland. He earned himself an alternate spot for the 2008 NFL Pro Bowl game but was not called into duty due to the players ahead of him being healthy.
During his four years in Cleveland, Steinbach was never once called for a holding penalty and was constantly seen as one of, if not the best, guards in the NFL. Yet, his lack of post-season awards and his frankly short career didn’t help him out any. After his first year with the Browns, it looked like Steinbach would be heading to the Hall, alongside his line-mate, Joe Thomas. The two made the best blind-side duo in the league, but
Yet a back injury forced Steinbach, just 31, to miss all of the 2011 season and after becoming a cap casualty by the Browns, found that he wasn’t the same player anymore. He spent some time with the Miami Dolphins before hanging up his pads for good.
Had the Browns been winners during his tenure, and he had a few more top-flight years in his career, there’s no doubt that Steinbach would be joining Thomas in the Hall.
Jamir Miller
The Cleveland Browns found a gem in Jamir Miller, the biggest free agent signing in Cleveland Browns’ history, well New Cleveland Browns history. He came into Cleveland off the heels of the team’s expansion draft and instantly gave them a sure-tackling linebacker with some pass-rushing talents. He wasn’t Joey Porter or Khalil Mack, but he was a pretty good player.
He instantly became the best player on the Browns from the moment he joined the team, regardless of position or side of the ball, and he actively became a leader for the club. In 2001, he not only had his best pro season ever, but he became the first Browns player to be elected to the Pro Bowl since the club returned to the league.
He had 101 tackles, 13 sacks, and four forced fumbles, while also getting an All-Pro selection, and was fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting. At 28, on a defense that included Orpheus Roye, Dayleon McClutchoen and Dwayne Rudd, Anthony Henry, and would soon include Earl Holmes, Robert Griffith, and Kenard Lang, this was a team that was set to dominate the league on defense.
Had Miller been healthy, that probably would’ve happened. The team was a Top 10 defense in 2002 and his pass-rushing skills would’ve only made them more impactful. An Achilles injury would end not only Millers’ 2002 campaign in the pre-season, but his career as well. Had he stayed healthy, he would’ve lived up to his lofty draft position by the Arizona Cardinals and probably would’ve been an outlier to make the Hall of Fame when it was all said and done.