Collection: Cleveland Browns

In 1995, owner Art Modell, who had purchased the Browns in 1961, announced plans to move the team to Baltimore. After threats of legal action from the city of Cleveland and fans, a compromise was reached in early 1996 that allowed Modell to establish the Baltimore Ravens as a new franchise while retaining the contracts of all Browns personnel. The Browns' intellectual property, including team name, logos, training facility, and history, were kept in trust and the franchise was regarded by the NFL as suspended for three seasons. While several of the then-30 existing franchises considered re-locating to Cleveland, in 1998 it was confirmed that the NFL would field 31 teams when the Browns resumed play in 1999, thus while the 1999 Browns were not technically considered to be an expansion franchise, the club's roster was re-stocked via an expansion draft.

Since resuming operations in 1999, the Browns have struggled to find success. They have had only three winning seasons (2002, 2007, and 2020), two playoff appearances (2002 and 2020), and one playoff win (2020), winning less than one third of their games in total. The franchise has also been noted for a lack of stability with head coaches (10 full time and two interim since 1999) and quarterbacks (30 different starters since 1999). From 2003 to 2019, the Browns had a 17-season playoff drought, which ended during the 2020 season.