Browns like Joseph

Once an NFL team finds a good kicker it should do everything reasonable to hold onto him. Maybe the Browns found one in Greg Joseph.

Excluding two seasons and the first five games of 1981, the Browns had five kickers from 1946 through 2012. Lou Groza (1946-59, 1961-67) started the procession followed by Don Cockroft (196880), Matt Bahr (1981-89), Matt Stover (1991-95) and Phil Dawson (1999-2012). The Browns were in hiatus from 1996-98 after the original franchise was moved to Baltimore after the 1995 season.

The exceptions were 1960 when Sam Baker kicked while Groza retired for one season because of a back injury, the first five games of 1981 when Dave Jacobs (4 of 12 on field goals with a long of 35 yards) preceded Bahr and 1990 when Jerry Kauric had a one-and-done (14 of 20 field goals made) NFL career.

So that works out to be five kickers over 63 seasons, minus the first five games of 1981.

Since Dawson fled to San Francisco through free agency in 2013, the Browns have gone through kickers like they go through head coaches.

Billy Cundiff kicked for the Browns in 2013 and 2014, Travis Coons in 2015, Cody Parkey in 2016, Zane Gonzalez in 2017 plus the first two games of 2018 and Joseph for the final 14 games of 2018.

So that works out to be five kickers over six seasons.

Joseph was 17 of 20 on field goal attempts in 2018, but just 6-of-9 from 40 yards and beyond. He was 25 of 29 on PATs.

General Manager John Dorsey is likely to find someone to challenge Joseph, but Joseph has the potential to start a new line of successful Browns kickers.

“I really liked Greg coming out of college last year, a strong-legged kid,” Browns special teams coach Mike Priefer said recently. “I still think he needs some technique work, but there’s something there. I think to kick in Cleveland, to go to Baltimore, to go to Pittsburgh or go to Cincinnati, you’re going to need a strong-legged young man.

“I like what Greg brings to the table. I think he has a chance to be a really good kicker. Will we bring in competition for him? I’m not sure yet. We haven’t had those discussions. At the end of the day, I think he has a chance to be pretty good.”

Preifer is in his first year as Browns special teams coordinator after eight seasons holding the same job with the Vikings.

Dawson, for the record, was 8-of-12 on field goal tries in 1999. He was 6-of10 from 30 yards and beyond. That was nothing special, but former Browns coach Chris Palmer stayed with Dawson in 2000, and so did Butch Davis, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini and Pat Shurmur for the next 12 years.

Dawson has played 20 years in the NFL — the last two with the Cardinals — and will be a free agent when the new league year begins March 13. He has scored 1,847 career points, good for 11th on the NFL’s all-time scoring list.

Groza, who holds the Browns scoring record, is 19th all-time in the NFL with 1,608 points.