Long before Johnny Manziel and LeBron James, the real star of Cleveland sports was Number 19. Bernie Kosar.
Stats and accolades are irrelevant when analysing Kosar's career. He retired in 1996 after twelve seasons in the NFL with barely a .500 record (53-51-1), one Pro Bowl appearance and a Super Bowl ring earned as a backup with the Dallas Cowboys. He accumulated 23,301 passing yards (80th all time), 124 touchdowns and 87 interceptions for a passer rating of 81.8. Yet Kosar is revered - still - by members of the infamous dawg pound.
The love affair with Bernie Kosar started in 1985. John Elway and Eli Manning would both later engineer draft day shenanigans to avoid playing for undesirable franchises (the Colts and the Chargers, respectively), but neither did so quite like Kosar, and neither forced their way into playing for their boyhood team.
A star for the Miami Hurricanes, Kosar did the opposite of LeBron James (well, before this year) and took his talents from South Beach to Cleveland. After he completed a double major with two years of college eligibility remaining, Kosar decided that he would trade college football for an NFL career. What unfolded next remains one of the NFL's most fascinating draft stories.
The Minnesota Vikings traded up to the number two spot in the 1985 - because the Buffalo Bills had already agreed terms with eventual Hall of Fame defensive lineman Bruce Smith - in order to take Kosar, but the Browns still engineered a trade with Buffalo that gave the Bills a first round pick in both 1985 and 1986. In exchange, the Browns received a first round pick in 1986 and the first pick in the 1985 supplemental draft, one that was subsequently used to draft Kosar.
Want to win over the fans? Engineer a trade to your childhood team. Part of Kosar's appeal came in his being the opposite of a prototypical NFL passer. He was 6' 5", but was awkward, slow (but still managed to accumulate five rushing touchdowns) and possessed an unconventional sidearm passing motion not dissimilar from Philip Rivers. He knew where to put the football though; Kosar made smart plays and made the most of the considerable talent that surrounded him.
The unit transformed the image of the forever-boring Cleveland Browns, and galvanised a fanbase that had become accustomed to losing ever since Otto Graham hung up his boots in 1955. In 1985, the Kosar-led Browns posted an 8-8 record and reached the playoffs. In 1986, they went 12-4, toppled the Jets in double overtime in the divisional round of the playoffs (a game in which Kosar posted a record 489 yards), before falling a John Elway 'Drive' short of reaching the Super Bowl.
They would reach two more AFC Championship games, losing to the Broncos again in both 1987 and 1989, and their final playoff appearance in 1989 would be the Browns' last until 1994. If there's a silver lining, it's that the Broncos got creamed in those Super Bowls - and the Browns probably would have too.
They would reach two more AFC Championship games, losing to the Broncos again in both 1987 and 1989, and their final playoff appearance in 1989 would be the Browns' last until 1994. If there's a silver lining, it's that the Broncos got creamed in those Super Bowls - and the Browns probably would have too.
Another tip for rookie quarterbacks looking to cement their legacy and win the eternal gratitude of an NFL fanbase: take a previously forlorn team to three AFC Championship games and almost win them.
The Browns have been so inept since this period of fleeting success that 2014 first round pick Johnny Manziel is in a great position to be the next big Cleveland sports hero.
The Browns have been so inept since this period of fleeting success that 2014 first round pick Johnny Manziel is in a great position to be the next big Cleveland sports hero.
Since his retirement, Browns fans have clamoured for 'The Next Bernie Kosar'. They have lived in hope that the team will one day scale the heights that Kosar and co. took them to in the mid and late eighties. But the team have never quite been bad enough in years with strong draft classes to land their elusive franchise quarterback. Many have been through the revolving door - Tim Couch, Ty Detmer, Spurgon Wynn, Charlie Frye, Brady Quinn, Colt McCoy and Brandon Weeden, to name a few - but none have possessed the talent and charisma of Johnny Manziel.
Manziel may not come from a rundown, working-class Ohio town, and he may not have forced his way out of college to play for his childhood team via the supplemental draft, but he does possess the talent necessary to win. Kosar - by virtue of being the guy to lead the Browns during a period of unexpected and unquestionable success - will likely never be supplanted in the minds of current Browns fans, but if Manziel uses the offensive weapons that surround him, he will be able to rekindle the magic that so endeared Kosar to the Browns' faithful.
Manziel may not come from a rundown, working-class Ohio town, and he may not have forced his way out of college to play for his childhood team via the supplemental draft, but he does possess the talent necessary to win. Kosar - by virtue of being the guy to lead the Browns during a period of unexpected and unquestionable success - will likely never be supplanted in the minds of current Browns fans, but if Manziel uses the offensive weapons that surround him, he will be able to rekindle the magic that so endeared Kosar to the Browns' faithful.
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