Dawgs By Nature
A mainstay of the Browns in the 1990s, Hoard joined the Go Long Podcast to talk about his NFL career and what he is up to now.
The Cleveland Browns of the 1990s are a bit of a forgotten team in the eyes of many fans.
Caught between the playoff teams of the late 1980s and the expansion team of 1999, the Browns cycled through so many players under head coach Bill Belichick that it is easy to forget that Mark Rypien, Joe Morris, Mike Tomczak, Mark Bavaro, Everson Walls, Pepper Johnson, and Carl Banks all saw action with the Browns.
Related: Where are your former Browns now? RB/FB Leroy Hoard
There is one name that stands out, and that is running back Leroy Hoard, a second-round selection by the Browns in the 1990 NFL Draft. Hoard spent six seasons in Cleveland, rushing for 2,203 yards and 10 touchdowns, while also having a front-row seat as the playoff runs of the 1980s gave way to the team moving to Baltimore after the 1995 season.
Hoard was a recent guest on the Go Long Podcast with Tyler Dunne to talk about his NFL career and his life since leaving the NFL.
Here are some of the highlights relating to Hoard’s time with the Browns.
What it was like playing for head coach Bill Belichick:
“If you ask any player, you have never been more prepared to play a football game than you were when Bill Belichick was your coach. I promise you that. And so was he tough? Absolutely. Did he have the personality of an oyster? Absolutely. But as far as respect for what that man did and how he did it, and how some of the guys — when he was the coach at Cleveland — played the best football of their career, I ain’t going to never say nothing bad about Bill Belichick ever, ever. Because he should have never got fired.”
What it was like after the news broke that owner Art Modell was moving the Browns to Baltimore for the 1996 season:
“… everybody was there to boo Art Modell. They weren’t there to cheer for the Browns. They wanted to go there and express their feelings about what was happening. And so we didn’t finish the season off that well, and they fired Bill Belichick. Cleveland will forever be known as the team that fired a six-time Super Bowl champ.”
Editor’s note: Two points need clarifying here. The first is that Baltimore fired Belichick. The second is that while the Browns started the 1995 season 3-1, they were already falling apart by the time the news broke that the team was moving. So while it could not have been easy for the players, Belichick was already messing things up and should not get a pass because of the move.
Why the Browns should have been patient with quarterback Baker Mayfield:
“(Baker) had a contract that was up. He tried to play through...
