Joe Thomas announced his retirement on Wednesday, and with that, a Hall of Fame career comes to its close. There were just two constants for the Browns during Thomas’ 11-year career: They were generally not very good, and they had a constant revolving door at the quarterback position.
As a matter of fact, Thomas blocked for 20 different starting quarterbacks during his time in Cleveland. Twenty. In 11 years.
And when you look at this inauspicious list, it’s hard to even say which one of these quarterbacks was the best.
Can you name all the QBs who have started for the Browns over the last decade? Joe Thomas, the guy who’s protected all 18, gave it a shot. pic.twitter.com/7dlnHxezlt
— E:60 (@E60) August 17, 2017
Let’s rank them.
A few notes:
- Quarterback wins are a garbage stat, but that’s our easiest starting point for these rankings.
- Joe Thomas has the patience of a saint.
- It is staggering that the Browns have had this many bad quarterbacks in such a short period of time.
1. Brian Hoyer, 10-6
I had to look up Hoyer’s win/loss record in three different places before I could accept that this was really his record with the Browns. Hoyer has been a perfectly serviceable backup quarterback. But he is the only starter in Cleveland in the last 11 years who has finished with a winning record. Congratulations, Hoyer.
2. Derek Anderson, 16-18
Next up is Derek Anderson, who is actually the player I expected to be putting at No. 1 for two reasons: the number of games he started in Cleveland and the fact that he was behind center for the Browns’ lone winning season of Thomas’ tenure back in 2007.
3. Jake Delhomme, 2-2
Our next quarterback on the list started four games for the Browns and won half of them, which is better than literally every other Browns starting quarterback from 2007 through 2017 except for Brian Hoyer. Delhomme was a good quarterback in his prime — good enough to lead the Panthers to a Super Bowl after the 2003 season. Those days were done when he came to Cleveland, but despite limited action he’s still near the top of the list.
4. Josh McCown, 1-10
OK, his win/loss record is bad, but McCown wasn’t necessarily terrible. That’s actually a fair caveat for many of the players on this list. McCown never won a single home game during his stint with the Browns. He finally won a game in Cleveland during the 2017 season ... as the starter for the New York Jets.
5. Robert Griffin III, 1-4
Griffin spent just one season in Cleveland, and after starting in Week 1 of the 2016 season, a shoulder injury sidelined him for several weeks. He finished with a terrible record. But RGIII got the Browns their only win that season. That bumps him up on the list.
6. Jason Campbell, 1-7
Campbell actually played well for Cleveland for stretches in 2013. His first start was against the Chiefs in Week 8, and he threw for 293 yards, two touchdowns, and no picks. The following week was his lone win, which came against the Ravens. Campbell threw for 263 yards and three touchdowns with no picks, and he snapped an 11-game losing streak for Cleveland, which is always nice.
7. Seneca Wallace, 1-6
Wallace wasn’t terrible, especially by Browns quarterback standards. He wasn’t great, either. He threw six touchdowns and four picks in very few starts.
8. Colt McCoy, 6-15
As is the Browns’ tradition, starter Jake Delhomme and backup Seneca Wallace both got injured, which pushed McCoy onto the field sooner than the Browns expected. He showed promise in his first season. But McCoy was a turnover machine, with 11 picks and 11 fumbles in 2011. It caught up with him, and he was relegated to a backup role behind Brandon Weeden in 2012.
9. Brady Quinn, 3-9
I honestly forgot Brady Quinn was a first-round pick for the Browns. I think I blocked it out. During his tenure in Cleveland, Quinn threw 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions. That’s not good at all.
10. Brandon Weeden, 5-15
Weeden threw 23 touchdowns and 26 picks during his time with the Browns. Before his first NFL start, he got trapped under the giant American flag they bring out on the field for the anthem.
Oh, and he finished that game with a quarterback record of 5.1, which is about what you’d expect from a quarterback with this level of situational awareness.
11. DeShone Kizer, 0-15
Man, what a rough rookie season for Kizer. He was a raw prospect coming into the draft and analysts didn’t see him as a Day 1 starter. But the Browns made him a Day 1 starter, and he threw twice as many picks as touchdowns. It’s only fair to note that he played nine of those losses without the benefit of the best left tackle in the league, because Thomas was on IR with a torn triceps. Now Kizer’s off to Green Bay to be Aaron Rodgers’ backup.
12. Cody Kessler, 0-8
Kessler’s another one who showed promise, but playing on a Browns team that went 1-31 over the 2016 and 2017 seasons didn’t do him any favors.
13. Thad Lewis, 0-1
Lewis started just one game, a 24-10 loss to the Steelers. He finished with 204 yards, a touchdown, and a pick.
14. Austin Davis, 0-2
Davis had no touchdowns and three picks over his two starts. He did throw one passing touchdown in 2015, but it was in a game he didn’t start.
15. Ken Dorsey, 0-3
Dorsey had 370 total yards, no touchdowns, and threw seven interceptions over the Browns’ last three games of the 2008 season.
16. Kevin Hogan, 0-1
Hogan saw some action in 2017 when Kizer was benched at various times for costly turnovers. He started just one game, and finished with 140 yards, one touchdown, and three picks.
17. Connor Shaw, 0-1
Shaw started one game in 2014. He completed just half of his passes for 177 yards, no touchdowns, and one pick. Yikes.
18. Bruce Gradkowski, 0-1
Gradkowski had just 18 yards, no touchdowns, and two picks in his only start for the Browns. That is very bad.
19. Charlie Frye, 6-13
Frye stayed in the Browns’ Week 1 loss to the Steelers in Thomas’ very first game as a pro long enough to throw four completions for 34 yards and take five sacks. He was promptly benched and didn’t take the field again for Cleveland.
20. Johnny Manziel, 2-6
He started eight games for Cleveland after being drafted with the 22nd overall pick in the 2014 draft. He was benched after a video surfaced of him partying during the team’s bye week. He went to Vegas while he was under the league’s concussion protocol and was AWOL for the team’s Week 17 loss to the Steelers in 2015. It did not, to say the least, work out for Manziel in Cleveland.
Joe Thomas should be commended not just on a stellar career, but for sticking it out for so long with all of these quarterbacks.
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