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The Cleveland Browns, a professional American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio are currently the members of the Northern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Browns began playing in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference. They joined the NFL in 1950 after the AAFC merged into the older league the team won 4 AAFC titles and 4 NFL Championships. The Browns were extremely successful in the early part of their existence and dominated the new All-America Football Conference. They won all four of its championships including with a landmark 1948 season in which they went unbeaten and untied - 24 years before the NFL's 'first' perfect team, the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

The Browns' era of success came to a crashing halt as the team dropped to 4-10 in 1974. The 1980 season is fondly remembered till the present by Browns fans. After splitting the first six games by going 3-3, the Browns won three straight games with fourth-quarter comebacks, and stopped a late comeback by the Baltimore Colts to win a fourth. The Browns selected University of Miami quarterback Bernie Kosar in the Supplemental Draft in 1985. The Browns enjoyed noteworthy success, reaching the playoffs each of the next five seasons, advancing to the AFC championship game three of those years and broke through into the ranks of the NFL elite with a 12-4 showing in 1986. With the best record in the AFC, the Browns clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Browns were split by turmoil in 1993, when Belichick made the controversial decision of benching Bernie Kosar in favor of Vinny Testaverde, who had been signed from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team returned with high hopes and expectations, featuring solid ownership, solid general management in the form of former San Francisco 49ers president Carmen Policy, and head coach Chris Palmer. Despite a 2002 AFC Wild Card qualification, the team saw a dismal record during the next two seasons leading to Butch Davis' resignation in December 2004. The Browns ended their 2005 campaign at 6-10, tied with the Baltimore Ravens for last place in the AFC North, though they technically finished in fourth place in the AFC North based on a worse division record than the Ravens.

The Browns signed free-agent wide receiver Joe Jurevicius from the Seattle Seahawks, offensive lineman LeCharles Bentley from the New Orleans Saints and offensive lineman Kevin Shaffer from the Atlanta Falcons om March 11, 2006 and on March 15, 2006 signed free agent LB Willie McGinest from the New England Patriots. Later in the 2006 offeason, veteran quarterback Trent Dilfer, who had been the team's starter in the beginng of the 2005-2006 season but was eventually benched for Frye, was traded to San Francisco for backup QB Ken Dorsey. This move cemented the Browns' decision to go with Frye as the team's starter.