Rubin to play 100th game as a Brown

Ahtyba Rubin will join the 100-game club, something only eight other Browns since 1999 have done, when he lines up against the Panthers.

The 2008 sixth-round pick from Iowa State is not having the season he’ would like in the final year of a four-year contract he signed in 2011. He has 27 tackles in 12 games with two games to play in 2014. He had 80 tackles a year ago in a different system and had more than 80 tackles twice in his career.

Still, to play in 100 games with the Browns is something only kicker Phil Dawson (215 games), long snapper Ryan Pontbriand (134), left tackle Joe Thomas (126), return specialist Josh Cribbs (124), defensive end Orpheus Roye (113), tight

Inside end Steve He iden (106), linebacker Andra Davis (105) and cornerback Daylon McCutcheon (103) have done.

“It’s been a long journey, been a long grind, and it just feels great,” Rubin said in the Browns’ locker room after practice Dec. 19, two days before the Browns and Panthers play in Charlotte, N.C. “I’m stoked about it. I’m Newton likely to play

Page D4 happy. I feel like it’s a great achievement in my life. It would be awesome to keep that streak going.”

Whether the streak continues in Cleveland is something Rubin’s agent and Browns general manager Ray Farmer have to hash over. Rubin is one of six players on the roster destined for unrestricted free agency. The others are wide receiver Miles Austin, tight end Jordan Cameron, quarterback Brian Hoyer, cornerback Buster Skrine and linebacker Jabaal Sheard.

“I don’t even think about (playing elsewhere),” Rubin said. “I just think about showing the coaches that I belong here, showing that I want to be a Brown for life, and try to do the best I can to perfect my craft every chance I get to touch the practice field.

“I never want to quit on something I started. I came here, started something with this D-line, with this team, and I want to finish it.” 1, Dec. 21 Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, N.C. Records: Browns 7-7; Panthers 5-8-1 TV: WOIO; Radio: WKRK-FM 92.3, WNCX-FM 98.5, WKNR-AM 850

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Rubin