The jersey draped over a mannequin that accidentally became a symbol of the Browns’ seemingly eternal search for a franchise quarterback has been retired.
A day after the Cleveland Cavaliers ended Cleveland’s 52-year drought between titles for major sports teams, the jersey that listed all 24 players who have started at quarterback for the Browns since the team’s return to the NFL in 1999 was retired.
Tim Brokaw of the advertising agency Brokaw, Inc. -- the creator of the jersey and owner of the advertising agency where it hung in a window -- wrote in an email to ESPN’s Pat McManamon that “all the negative energy and bad juju should be eliminated” and that a Cleveland team winning a title seemed the right occasion to turn the page.
“It’s a new day in Cleveland,” Brokaw wrote. “We want to be a part of that.”
So, the memories of what players such as Spergon Wynn, Ken Dorsey and new Eagles head coach Doug Pederson did in a Browns uniform will have to live on somewhere else. Austin Davis became the 24th and final name added to the jersey last December following the suspension of Johnny Manziel.
The 24 players who have started for the Browns since 1999 is by far the most of any team in that timeframe. The quarterback names, which had been duct-taped onto the jersey, have been removed and the agency’s social media pages have been updated.
The Brokaw Agency sits just a few blocks from the home of the Browns, First Energy Stadium, in Downtown Cleveland.