Just for kicks

They were two of the most popular Browns players since the franchise returned to the NFL in 1999.

One arrived at the very beginning with nothing but a promise of an opportunity after being undrafted and failing in two other stints with two other franchises in 1998. In fact, when he won the job, he was given the caveat from then-head coach Chris Palmer -- "We'll go with you for now."

The other arrived in 2005 after a stellar career as a quarterback at Kent State, but went undrafted in seven rounds by every team in the league because no one was really sure where he could excel. With nothing more of a promise to simply "play," he signed with the Browns and found his niche as a kickoff and punt returner.

Today, both Phil Dawson (49ers) and Josh Cribbs (Cardinals, although his failed physical puts his status in limbo) are with different NFL franchises for the first times in their respective NFL careers after both became local folk-heroes based on their performances over the years with the Cleveland Browns.

Cribbs became a perennial Pro Bowler as a returner and special teams player. His eight career kickoff return touchdowns is still an NFL record, even though he hasn't had one since returning three for scores in 2009 -- the best all-around year of his career that finally earned him the payday he had always desired.

Dawson toiled in relative NFL obscurity, mostly because the Browns teams he's played on have largely been mediocre. He was finally rewarded with a berth to the Pro Bowl this past season. I'm sure it had to mean a lot to him that his last game wearing an orange helmet was while wearing the AFC's game jersey in Hawaii.

In fact, Dawson and Cribbs were two of the Browns' three Pro Bowlers this season (the other being perennial Pro Bowl and possible future Hall of Fame tackle Joe Thomas). While that's a great accomplishment, it's also indicative of all the people who have been making decisions here with the Browns from 1999 until now.

The Browns had never used their franchise tag on any player until Dawson became a free agent following the 2010 season. They used it on him again following the 2011 season. While it kept Dawson a Brown for two more seasons and paid him a nice chunk of change for doing so, the fact that the only player in Browns history to be franchised was a kicker is just sad.

The fact that two of the most popular (fanbase-wise) players during the expansion era are a kicker and a special-teamer is also just sad.

Joe Cleveland was not surprised to see either go, although I did hold out hope that Dawson would be brought back at least one more year. Cribbs, on the other hand, I had washed my hands of.

Cribbs' "home run" ability (his ability to change games with long kickoff returns) had waned over the past few years -- ironically, since he finally signed a lucrative contact extension prior to the 2010 season. The contract may have played a part in it. However, changes in NFL rules concerning kickoffs (kicking from the 35, which greatly increased touchbacks) and injuries building up due to his reckless style of play were starting to catch up to him.

Plus, he's 29. You don't see a whole lot of 30-year-old kickoff and punt returners in the NFL. And, with Cribbs, he was never really able to find his niche offensively with the Browns. While that may be a slam on some of the coaches he's had for not better utilizing his playmaking ability, it is also indicative of Cribbs. Perhaps he was just too raw of a project to do much offensively, and us fans were not able to take off the Orange and Brown blinders to see it.

Cribbs endeared himself to Browns fans not just with his big play ability, whether it was returning kickoffs or punts, taking Wildcat snaps on offense, or covering kicks and punts and making big hits, but also with his accessibility. Cribbs became one of the most visible Browns players during his career. Whether he was attending other sporting events in town or Tweeting or visiting local schools or making other public appearances, Cribbs quickly became Mr. Cleveland. Some even compared him to Bernie Kosar, who was also a beloved Cleveland sports icon who fans loved because of his play and his accessibility.

When Cribbs complained about his contract, which he signed shortly into his rookie year, instead of rebelling against him, fans took up for him. "Pay Da Man" became a rallying cry when it came to Cribbs, especially when he backed up his cries for more money with his 2009 season.

Cribbs returned three kickoffs -- two of which in a wild 40-34 win over Kansas City that highlighted a season-ending four-game win streak -- and one punt for a touchdown during that Pro Bowl season. He also carried the ball a career-best 55 times for 381 yards (mostly out of the Wildcat formation) and one touchdown, and added 20 receptions for 135 yards and another score. The 20 catches, at the time, were his season-best and exceeded his career reception total by four. He was rewarded with his second Pro Bowl berth, and incoming president Mike Holmgren tore up the remaining three years on his rookie contract and gave him a big pay raise.

In the three years since, Cribbs only returned one punt for a touchdown. While he set a career-high with 41 receptions for 518 yards and 4 scores in 2011, he became an offensive afterthought in 2012. In fact, 2012 was the first season in his eight-year career that he was held without a single touchdown (although he did catch a TD pass in the Pro Bowl).

Cribbs could be a bit of a "drama queen" in the locker room, complaining about playcalling, his contract, his coaches, etc. Especially on a team that was losing a lot more than it won, it could become an unwanted distraction.

Dawson, on the other hand, seemed to be getting better with age. After missing five games due to injury in 2009, Dawson became one of the NFL's most reliable kickers over the past three years, especially from long range. Which is interesting because the knock on Dawson early in his career was that he did not possess the leg to consistently hit deep field goals or touchbacks.

His 29 field goals this past season was one off his career-high for field goals in a season (30 in 2008), and his 29-of-31 performance gave him the highest field goal percentage (single-season) of his career (93.5 percent, which exceeded his 93.1 in 2005. He was also 7-of-7 on kicks longer than 50 yards, which was by far his best percentage from that distance and matched the 7 50-plus yarders he made in 2011 for the most in his career.

Dawson was old reliable, which was big because many times over the years, the Browns' offense had difficulty putting the ball in the end zone. It seemed like coaches would get conservative in the red zone because they knew Dawson would give them a guaranteed three points on each drive.

One thing the Browns have had extremely good luck with in their storied 66 years as a franchise was finding good kickers. From the great Lou "The Toe" Groza during all but one season from 1946-67 to Don Cockroft to Matt Bahr to Matt Stover to Dawson, you can trace the kicker lineage fairly quickly. Sure, there were a few blips on the radar -- Sam Baker in 1960, Dave Jacobs in 1981, Jerry Kauric in 1990, Jeff Jaeger in 1988, and even Dawson was replaced twice by Brett Conway (2003) and Billy Cundiff (2009) due to injuries -- but for the most part, kicker has been the one rock-solid position the Browns have had. Especially during the expansion era, when you consider Dawson has been the last remaining regular player from that rag-tag group of 1999'ers.

While the Browns made no secret about their desire to walk away from Cribbs (and Cribbs made no secret about his desire to come back) this offseason, the situation with Dawson is still pretty questionable.

The Browns were pretty coy about their intentions with Dawson, and, likewise, Dawson was coy right back. Even after he signed with the 49ers, Dawson wouldn't confirm or deny that the Browns made him a contract offer, only to say that once the 49er interest happened, he made that his priority. Likewise, Browns CEO Joe Banner has resisted commenting on the Dawson situation from the end of the season until now.

Somewhat surprisingly, the fan backlash has been more about Dawson than Cribbs. Dawson wasn't as visible as Cribbs was. However, Dawson endeared himself to the fanbase just because he became the lone reliable offensive weapon for so many years.

Dawson left just 73 points shy of matching Groza's record as the Browns' all-time leading scorer. He was also within reach of passing Groza and linebacker Clay Matthews for the most games in a Cleveland Browns' uniform. Instead, he'll be content with sitting second on the scoring list with 1,271 points and third on the games list with 215.

"I think Mr. Groza deserves to be the all-time leading scorer of the Cleveland Browns," Dawson told Cleveland reporters in a conference call the day after he signed with the 49ers. "He's Mr. Cleveland Brown, and I'm happy with that."

After the 2010 season, Dawson was set to become a free agent and seemed ready to move on to the next phase of his football career with a new team. He sold his Westlake home and didn't make a secret about testing the free agency market. He wasn't happy that the Browns weren't offering him a multi-year deal and was starting to get tired of the losing, aching for a chance to kick for a winner while he still had the chance. In fact, the Browns themselves took a moment to honor Dawson during the 2010 season finale.

However, in a surprising move, Holmgren decided to give Dawson the franchise tag that offseason. The move paid him over $3 million a year. Dawson briefly held out, but signed his franchise tender and went out and had a phenomenal 2011 season.

The following year, Holmgren quickly tagged Dawson for the second-year in a row, and Dawson quickly signed the tender. However, with the sale from Randy Lerner to Jimmy Haslam III and the move from Holmgren and Tom Heckert to Banner and Mike Lombardi, Dawson expected that he'd be moving on.

By rule, the Browns couldn't offer him the franchise tag for a third-year-in-a-row. If they did, they'd have to pay him a one-year salary that was an average of the top five overall salaries in the league. No team is going to pay a kicker quarterback money. For that matter, very few teams would pay a kicker over $3 million a year.

Dawson signed a one-year, $2.25 million deal with the 49ers. It was one that the Browns probably easily could have matched, but didn't. Now, Dawson gets a legitimate chance to kick in a Super Bowl (and possibly win). Had he stayed in Cleveland, he likely wouldn't have gotten that chance -- the Browns may not be a legitimate contender until he'd be over 40.

The Browns have been pushing for signing younger players; players in the prime of their careers. Dawson, Cribbs and tight end Ben Watson (who was allowed to walk to the Saints for a three-year deal) are older and may not fit into this braintrusts' immediate plans.

Just a day later, the Browns brought in internet sensation Havard Rugland for a tryout and an interview. Rugland, a Norwegian, posted a video that quickly went viral of him kicking balls a very long way and other trick kicks. They may even spend one of their later-round picks on a kicker like Florida's Caleb Sturgis or Oklahoma State's Quinn Sharp (who also projects to be a punter).

The Browns may already have Cribbs' replacement on the team in second-year speedster Travis Benjamin, who wowed fans with a 93-yard punt return touchdown during a blowout win over Kansas City. However, they do not have a kicker in tow.

Free agents come and go in all three sports. It seems like with Cleveland teams, they go more than they come. A lot of them have been booed with their other teams, with LeBron James leading the charge in that regard. Very few of them continued get cheered.

Dawson may never get a chance to play against the Browns before he retires (the 49ers don't play the Browns again until 2015, and I'd be surprised if they met in a Super Bowl prior to that), but you can bet he'd be cheered if he came back in another uniform.

The only other player I can think of like that was Omar Vizquel. Vizquel was extremely popular in Cleveland, and when he left in free agency following the 2004 season, it was clear that the Indians had no interest in bringing him back.

While Omar was cheered whenever he came back to Jacobs/Progressive Field in an opposing uniform, his replacements at shortstop -- Jhonny Peralta and Asdrubal Cabrera -- have been lightning rods for criticism by fans and the media. Peralta was run out of town; Cabrera came very close to doing so this offseason.

Also, the Indians dispatched Vizquel because he was 37. And yet, he wound up playing eight more seasons for four different franchises, finally retiring at the ripe age of 45 this offseason. Couldn't you see that happening with Dawson?

Whoever becomes the next Browns kicker may have to be perfect (or darn near close) to even attempt to fill Dawson's shoes over the next few seasons. Or else, he (or they) will get booed and heavily criticized.

The Browns don't need another Peralta or Cabrera to replace their version of Omar. They need a Stover to replace their Bahr, or a Dawson to replace their Stover, or a Bahr to replace their Cockroft.

Good luck to whoever the Browns' new kicker will be in 2013 and beyond. I'm afraid you'll need it.

Until next time, remember the Cleveland Rocks!