The Cleveland Browns were facing a dilemma heading into the 1955 NFL season, one that would be very familiar to fans even now, 60 years later.
Following the 1954 NFL Championship Game in which he threw for three touchdowns and ran for three more in a 56-10 beating of Detroit, Otto Graham decided to retire from the game. His legacy was set after winning six titles in nine years and Graham wanted to go out on top.
Head coach Paul Brown had been planning for the day that Graham would no longer be his quarterback, but was struggling, naturally, to replace the game’s best quarterback.