The Greatest First-Round Picks in Browns History -- The Ones Who Changed Everything

Jim Brown, fullback, 6th 1957

Every conversation on the best draft pick ever in Cleveland starts and ends at Jim Brown, who’s on the shortlist to be considered the best player ever, period.

An eight-time first-team All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowler, he was bigger than some of the linemen of his era, allowing him to plow over defenders. The three-time league MVP led the league in rushing in every season he played except one, and still holds the all-time record for rushing yards per game, a mind boggling 104.3.

The one-time NFL champ famously retired at 30-years old, still in the peak of his career, when then-owner Art Modell wanted to force him into attending training camp while he was shooting a movie abroad.

Myles Garrett, defensive end, 1st 2017

Forcing your way into the conversation for best pass-rusher of all-time is a good way to get on this list, and that’s exactly what Garrett has done, twice being recognized as the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Garrett is coming off a record-breaking season with 23 sacks, and has posted double-digit sacks in every year he’s been in the NFL except his rookie season. A seven-time Pro Bowler and five-time first-team All-Pro, Garrett now has his sights set on a 25-sack campaign.

Joe Thomas, offensive tackle, 3rd 2007

Through the good and the mostly bad, the one thing you could count on was Thomas manning the left side. A Hall of Famer since 2023, he racked up 10 Pro Bowl nods and six first-team All-Pro mentions.

The worthy successor for a golden era of left tackles -- Walter Jones, Jonathan Ogden, Willie Roaf and Orlando Pace -- Thomas loved Cleveland so much he nixed a trade to Denver in 2015.

Bernie Kosar, quarterback, supplementary 1985

Kosar and the Browns rigged the supplementary draft back in ‘85, but he still counts as a first rounder, and to this day, stands as the only legitimate franchise quarterback the team has ever drafted.

A Pro Bowler after the 1987 season, Kosar led the Browns to four division titles -- the team’s last to this day -- and three AFC Championships in the late 1980s.

Ozzie Newsome, tight end, 23rd 1978

By the time “The Wizard of Oz” was done playing football, he was the all-time receiving leader at the tight end position, and ranked fourth all-time receiving among all positions with 662 catches.

Throughout a career that spanned 13 seasons, all with the Browns, the former Alabama wideout earned three Pro Bowl nods and one first-team All-Pro mention, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.

Clay Matthews, linebacker, 12th 1978

A semifinalist for the Hall of Fame on multiple occasions, Mathews played 16 years for the Browns followed by three more with Atlanta, earning four Pro Bowl nods.

He retired with 82.5 official sacks, placing him 21st at the time back in 1996, but his tally should be higher as sacks weren’t an official stat until 1982, when he was already a four-year veteran.

Denzel Ward, cornerback, 4th 2018

The five-time Pro Bowler has been one of the few constants on the Browns’ defense, along with Garrett, since his arrival from nearby Columbus.

Set to start his ninth NFL season at the age of 29, he’s still a force on the boundary as proven by his league-leading 19 pass deflections in 2024.

Hanford Dixon, cornerback, 22nd 1981

One half of Cleveland’s memorable cornerback duo of the 1980s with Frank Minniefield, Dixon earned three Pro Bowl nods and two first-round All-Pro mentions during his nine seasons with the Browns.

Dixon is also remembered as one of the authors of the “Dawg” identity associated with Cleveland since the mid-eighties.

Paul Warfield, wide receiver, 11th 1964

Warfield lands a little low on our list because he enjoyed most of his finest moments with the Dolphins. But even at the start of his career in Cleveland, the HOFer Class of ‘83 was already turning heads.

He earned the first three of his eight total Pro Bowl nods during his first stint in VCleveland, and returned for his final two campaigns as a pro after a brief one-year World Football League adventure.

Alex Mack, center, 21st 2009

Leaving linebacker Chip Banks out of the Top-10 was tough, but we went with Mack, barely. Mack played the first seven seasons of his standout 13-year career for the Browns, receiving three Pro Bowl nods in the process. Together with Thomas, he anchored Cleveland's offensive line brilliantly despite negative results overall.