When Brian Hoyer left Thursday night's game against the Buffalo Bills with a torn ACL, the Browns were forced to resort back to 2012 first-round pick Brandon Weeden. Cleveland already expected a short-term fix when they drafted Weeden at age 28. As Weeden turns 30 this season, the Browns are clearly looking toward the future despite their current three game winning streak. Trading running back Trent Richardson, the Browns 3rd overall selection in the 2012 NFL Draft, to the Indianapolis Colts straight up for a 1st round pick in 2014 gives the Browns two first rounders in the upcoming NFL Draft in April. However, this isn't the first time the Browns have "cleaned house" to make way for the future of the organization.
In 1970, the Cleveland Browns traded their future Hall of Fame wide receiver Paul Warfield to the Miami Dolphins for the 3rd pick in the 1970 NFL Draft where they drafted QB Mike Phipps from Purdue University. (Warfield Trade Article) Through the 1968 season and the 1969 season, Warfield caught 12 touchdowns and 10 touchdowns respectively for the Browns, eclipsing the 1000 yard mark in '68 as well. The Browns were all-in to take a quarterback with the 3rd overall pick.
Cleveland wanted either Terry Bradshaw or Mike Phipps but their decision was made for them when the Steelers drafted Bradshaw 1st overall. Phipps was it. He spent three seasons at Purdue where he had a total of 5,423 yards passing, 37 touchdowns, and a quarterback rating of 120.7 (how to determine QB Passer Rating). In his final season at Purdue in 1969, he also ran for 218 yards and 8 touchdowns. Phipps, a consensus All-American in 1969, was good enough to finish 2nd in Heisman voting as well. That was all the evidence the Browns needed to make Phipps their franchise quarterback. (Phipps total college stats)
In Phipps rookie season of 1970, he played in seven games and completed 48% of his 60 pass attempts for 529 yards and one touchdown. Not terrible right? Except for the fact he threw 5 interceptions as well and was sacked 7 times. In his second season he completed 27.6% of his pass attempts for 179 yards in seven games. Again, he only threw one touchdown and four interceptions. In his first two seasons, when Phipps played quarterback, the Browns were 7 and 7.
After the 1971 season, the Browns handed the keys of the offense over to their 1970 investment. Phipps would start for the Browns for five seasons. They went 10 and 4 under Phipps in 1972. In 1973, the Browns went 7 and 5 with two tie games. Cleveland continued to fall off in 1974 and 1975, where they won 3 games and lost 11 in each of those seasons. Phipps was less than stellar and never lived up to his hype as a 3rd overall selection and the second best quarterback to Bradshaw in the 1970 draft. In each season he started, he threw more interceptions than touchdowns, the most in 1973 when he had 20 passes picked off. He was also sacked 44 times in 1973, losing 362 yards. As a starter for the Browns, he was sacked 129 times and threw 72 interceptions. The only time he threw for double digit touchdowns was in 1972 when he had 13 touchdowns, 4 fourth quarter comebacks and 5 game-winning drives. The Phipps magic dwindled as each season passed and the Browns investment in a franchise quarterback had ultimately failed as Phipps was traded to the Bears in 1976. (Phipps career statistics)
If history repeats itself in the 2014 NFL Draft, Trent Richardson will go on to become one of the greatest rushers in Colts history and the Browns will draft Teddy Bridgewater or Aaron Murray before they should. For Cleveland's sake, the Browns are hoping to find a franchise quarterback before "the jersey" gets any longer.
