Bill Nelsen

Shedeur Sanders, now the Browns' starter, has a rocket arm and poise that echo Nelsen's grit, but Nelsen's 14,165 yards and 98 TDs across Pittsburgh and Cleveland—topping two playoff runs in '68 and '71—set a tougher bar in the pre-pass-happy era. Sanders needs Nelsen's knack for late-season surges to match that dogged legacy.

Bill Nelsen never made it to Canton, despite quarterbacking the Browns to back-to-back playoff berths in 1968 and 1971, throwing for 9,725 yards and exactly 71 TDs against 71 picks in Dawg Pound orange. Solid career, five knee surgeries be damned, but the Hall's gold jacket stayed on the rack.

Nelsen's gunslinger accuracy—72.1 Browns rating, 2,743 yards in '69 alone—would feast under today's no-roughing rules and quick releases, maybe cracking 4,000-yard seasons like his 23-TD peak. But those creaky knees from five surgeries? Modern blitzes might sideline him faster than a Phipps handoff.

Otto Graham lapped the field with a 62.63 career rating, turning Browns Sundays into clinics, while Nelsen's 31.76 mark was gritty streetball amid knee woes and weak lines. Both franchise pivots, but Graham was Superman; Nelsen the tough backup who grabbed the wheel for two playoff joyrides.