Dawgs By Nature
The Cleveland Browns have 18 members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, ranging from head coach Paul Brown to left tackle Joe Thomas.
There are now two more players who may join them, as linebacker Clay Matthews and left tackle Dick Schafrath are among 52 seniors who are eligible for inclusion as part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.
According to the hall’s press release, the nine-member “Seniors Blue-Ribbon Committee” will now work to eventually cut the list down to three finalists for inclusion in the hall’s Class of 2026.
The Browns selected linebacker Clay Matthews in the first round of the 1978 NFL Draft, and he then spent 19 years as one of the NFL’s top linebackers.
A mainstay on a Cleveland Browns defense that helped the team reach three AFC Championship Games in the 1980s, Matthews played 16 seasons with the Browns and posted 75 sacks, which is third on the franchise’s all-time list behind Myles Garrett and Bill Glass, 1,430 tackles, 14 interceptions, and 24 forced fumbles.
He also made the Pro Bowl four times, with three consecutive trips from 1987 to 1989 as a key part of a Browns team that made the playoffs five consecutive years.
Matthews closed out his career by playing three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, and he was inducted into Cleveland’s Ring of Honor in 2019.
A second-round selection by the Browns in the 1959 NFL Draft out of Ohio State, Schafrath would go on to play his entire 13-year NFL career in Cleveland, leading the way at left tackle for Hall of Fame running backs Jim Brown, Bobby Mitchell, and Leroy Kelly.
Schafrath took over for Hall of Fame left tackle Lou Groza in 1960 and held the starting job into the 1971 season, eventually starting 158 of his 176 career games at the position. He was a four-time All-Pro selection, earned six trips to the Pro Bowl, and was elected into the Browns Legends Club in 2003.
He turned over the starting job at left tackle to Doug Dieken during the 1971 season, when he started nine of the 14 games, and retired after the season.
Schafrath passed away in 2021 at the age of 84.
Cleveland’s list of Hall of Famers includes:
