Frank Ryan

Shedeur Sanders, the fresh-faced Browns starter, has a long way to go before touching Frank Ryan's turf—Ryan's the guy who slung three TD passes to Gary Collins in the '64 NFL title shutout over the Colts, capping a 10-3-1 run with 16,042 yards and 149 TDs overall. Shedeur's got arm talent, but Ryan was clutch when it counted, like that 5-TD, 12-of-13 gem vs. the Giants.

Nope, Frank Ryan's not in Canton, despite three Pro Bowls, a league-leading 29 TDs in '66 amid Jim Brown's retirement shadow, and that stone-cold '64 championship drive. The Hall snub stings—he ranks high in Browns lore with 13,499 yards there—but voters overlooked his 149 career TDs and grit.

Frank Ryan would carve up today's NFL like a hot knife through butter, thanks to pass-happy rules killing the old bump-and-run era. His '66 cannon (29 TDs, 2,976 yards in 14 games) and scrambling legs (1,358 rushing yards career) scream Mahomes-lite; imagine no 13-interception '63 forgiven by zero DPI calls. He'd feast.

Otto Graham lapped Frank Ryan like a Ferrari passing a pickup—Graham's 62.63 rating towers over Ryan's 33.81, with four titles in a stacked era. But Ryan held the fort post-Otto, snagging that '64 ring with 25 TDs and engineering 10-win seasons. Graham was poetry; Ryan, the tough bar fighter who kept Cleveland dreaming.