Quarteback has been the problem position since the Cleveland Browns franchise came back to life in 1999. They finally seem to have solved the riddle with Baker Mayfield. However, it has been a long journey to the Heisman Trophy winner out of Oklahoma, filled with divots and potholes.
Tim Couch (1999-03)
Poor Tim Couch. He was the first selection of the new Browns and became a human sack target. Couch was sacked 166 times in five seasons, including more than 50 times twice. The Browns were the only team he played on in his NFL career, which ended after the 2003 season. Couch has made a career in broadcasting.
Ty Detmer (1999)
Ty Detmer had the honor of making the first start for the new Browns. It did not go well. The Heisman winner out of BYU was 6-for-13 for 52 yards and an interception before being yanked in a 43-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Overall, Detmer played for five NFL teams. He is a high school assistant.
Doug Pederson (2000)
A Super Bowl-winning coach survived playing quarterback for the Browns. Doug Pederson was 1-7 in eight starts. In those starts, he was sacked 17 times and threw eight interceptions. Pederson played for four NFL teams.
Spergon Wynn (2000)
Spergon Wynn made one start for the Browns, which was against a 5-7 Jacksonville team. He never had a chance, anyway. The Jags sacked Wynn five times and saw him go 5-for-16 for 17 yards in a 48-0 debacle. Wynn is an energy broker for Amerex.
Kevin Thompson
Do not feel bad if you don’t remember the former Penn State quarterback’s time with Cleveland. He was actually perfect, though, throwing one pass and completing it for eight yards. He played two seasons in Arena Football and years later was one of the many players who signed a letter supporting Joe Paterno.
Kelly Holcomb (2002-04)
Kelly Holcomb made 12 starts in four seasons with the Browns, winning one-third of them. He was sacked 31 times for 237 yards. Holcomb went into coaching high school football, as a quarterbacks coach.
Jeff Garcia (2004)
Jeff Garcia was 3-7 in 10 starts for the Browns. He did, however, throw a TD pass to Andre Davis that went for 99 yards in 2004. The former 49ers Pro Bowl quarterback, who played for five teams, is an NBC Sports Bay Area analyst. That could explain why he looked to sell his home in Southern California in 2018 for a crisp $6.499 million.
Luke McCown (2004)
Luke McCown was half of a brother act that played for the Browns, as Josh also did. Luke McCown started his career in Cleveland and went 0-4. He played for five teams in a journeyman career. He recently made an appearance at Beast Texas Passing Academy.
Trent Dilfer (2005)
Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl as quarterback of an AFC North team, the Ravens, not the Browns, of course. He spent one season in Cleveland, going 4-7 as a starter. Overall, Dilfer played for five teams. He works for ESPN and is also coaching high school football.
Charlie Frye (2005-07)
Charlie Frye spent his first three seasons as a Brown, going 6-13 as a starter. Frye, who played for two other teams, was sacked 71 times for 428 yards in Cleveland. He also threw 23 picks against 14 TD passes. Frye is currently the quarterbacks coach at Central Michigan, where he played college ball.
Derek Anderson, (2006-09)
Derek Anderson spent his first four seasons in Cleveland, going 16-18 as a starter. He was sacked 47 times in his tenure with the Browns and threw for better than 7,000 yards. Anderson played for the Bills in 2018. He announced his retirement last month after a career that saw him play for four teams.
Brady Quinn, (2008-09)
The Browns drafted Brady Quinn after a star-studded career at Notre Dame. It did not translate to the NFL. He spent three seasons in Cleveland, going 3-9 as a starter. His pro career concluded with a stop in Kansas City, where he was 1-7 as a starter. Quinn has moved into broadcasting and does television and radio.
Ken Dorsey (2008)
Ken Dorsey didn’t see a lot of playing time in his three seasons with the Browns. He made three starts and lost them all. He is currently the QB coach for the Buffalo Bills.
Bruce Gradkowski (2008)
Bruce Gradkowski made one start for the Browns, a losing one. He played for four teams, mostly as a backup. In 2017, Gradkowski became a volunteer assistant quarterbacks coach at Anthony Wayne High School in Whitehouse, Oh, and joined the University of Toledo’s Radio Network as a color analyst
Colt McCoy (2010-11)
Colt McCoy came to the Browns after a stellar career at the University of Texas. He spent three seasons in Cleveland and went 6-15 as a starter. McCoy was sacked 59 times in a Browns uniform. He has played for three teams, most recently starting before being injured in a game with Washington in 2018.
Jake Delhomme (2010)
Jake Delhomme quarterbacked for the Carolina Panthers in a Super Bowl. He played for four teams and made four starts for Cleveland, splitting them. He raises and trains racehorses.
Seneca Wallace (2010-11)
Seneca Wallace was 1-6 as the quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. He played for three teams in an NFL career that concluded in 2013. He is in the restaurant business. The Ames, Ia, Wingstop location features interesting decor related to the quarterback’s career at Iowa State and with three teams in the NFL.
Brandon Weeden (2012-13)
Brandon Weeden tried his hand at baseball before completing college and becoming a Browns quarterback. He went 5-15 as Cleveland’s starter. He served as a backup in Houston last season. He is currently a free agent.
Thad Lewis (2012)
Thad Lewis made one start for the Browns and lost despite going 22-of-32 for 204 yards. He played for three teams in three seasons in a career that concluded in 2014. He is an offensive analyst for Chip Kelly at UCLA.
Josh Johnson (2012)
Josh Johnson’s lone stat for Cleveland shows that he was sacked for an eight-yard loss. He played for five NFL teams, most recently Washington in 2018. In one form or another, he spent time with 14 NFL teams. His most recent action came with the now-defunct AAF. He recently underwent ankle surgery and still might return to an NFL team.
Jason Campbell (2013)
Jason Campbell went 1-7 as a Browns starter. He was often injured in his career that saw him play for five teams, the last of which being the Bengals in 2014. Campbell works for Auburn football doing radio, has been a high school QB coach and runs football camps.
Brian Hoyer (2013-14)
Brian Hoyer was 10-6 as a starter in Cleveland. A stunning mark. He has played for six NFL teams, including New England twice. Hoyer earned a Super Bowl ring as a backup for Tom Brady.
Johnny Manziel (2014-15)
Heisman winners failing in Cleveland is becoming a theme. Johnny Manziel was — is? — a troubled young man during his time in Cleveland. He wound up as a first-round pick and bombed going 2-6 as a starter over two seasons. Manziel has tried the CFL, the AAF and is making noise about wanting to play in the XFL.
Connor Shaw (2014)
Connor Shaw came to the Browns from South Carolina. In his lone season, he was 0-1 as a starter. That was basically it for his NFL career. He did spend time with the Chicago Bears but was injured twice and never played. In January 2018, Shaw signed on to be a tight ends coach at Furman. However, he resigned that August and took a job with Colonial Life as a sales rep.
Josh McCown (2015-16)
Josh McCown has played quarterback for 11 teams, if you count the Hartford Colonials of the defunct United Football League. In his two seasons in Cleveland he was 1-10 as a starter and, overall, sacked 41 times. McCown spent the last two seasons with the New York Jets and is currently a free agent, undecided if he wants to continue playing.
Austin Davis (2015)
Austin Davis made two starts for Cleveland, losing both games. He spent time with five different teams, mostly not playing and in February was signed as an offensive assistant by the Seattle Seahawks.
Robert Griffin III (2016)
Robert Griffin III was another of the Heisman quarterbacks who suffered through time with the Browns. Griffin began his career in Washington, washed out and washed up on the shore so Cleveland could sign him. He made five starts, went 1-4 and was sacked 22 times. He’s on his third team now as a backup in Baltimore.
Cody Kessler (2016)
Cody Kessler came to the Browns from USC in 2016. He started eight games and lost them all. 0-and-8. He remained Cleveland for 2017, but did not start. Last season, Kessler was in Jacksonville and he is now trying to earn a spot with the Philadelphia Eagles.
DeShone Kizer (2017)
Poor DeShone Kizer. He came into the NFL after a college career at Notre Dame. His reward was 15 starts with the Browns and 0 victorys. 0-and-15. Kizer threw a league-leading 22 interceptions and was sacked 38 times for 226 yards. After that rookie punishment, Kizer has moved on to Green Bay, where he can watch Aaron Rodgers.
Kevin Hogan (2017)
Kevin Hogan came to the Browns from Stanford. With that kind of intelligence, he had to know he was in trouble immediately. Hogan made one start in 2017 and it was a loss, of course. He is now being guided by the watchful eye of another Cardinal quarterback as John Elway brought Hogan into the Denver Broncos’ fold.
Tyrod Taylor (2018)
Tyrod Taylor was bumped as Browns’ starting quarterback after posting a 1-1-1 record in three starts last season. He has moved on to his fourth team, the Los Angeles Chargers, where he will back up Philip Rivers.
Baker Mayfield (2018)
Baker Mayfield was the No. 1 overall pick out of Oklahoma after winning the Heisman Trophy in 2017. He appears to be the Rx to the plague that has been the Browns’ quarterback position.
