BEREA, Ohio -– Forty years later, former Browns offensive lineman Doug Dieken still cannot make sense of the franchise's approach to the 1974 NFL draft, one that altered the course of football history, the club's fortunes and those of its greatest rival.

Treating high draft picks like they were tickets to preseason games, Browns management virtually gave them away in trades for veteran players who could not help the team sustain decades of winning.

The club entered the seminal draft without first-, third- and fourth-round choices, needing desperately to hit on its No. 40 overall selection. The Browns picked offensive lineman Billy Corbett from Johnson C. Smith University.

“What kind of football does Johnson C. Smith play?” Dieken asked rhetorically about the Division II program from Charlotte, N.C. “I had never heard of it. Who in the hell would they have played in football?”

Corbett's competition level was not about to get much better as he stiff-armed the Browns on a run toward a bigger contract offer from the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Two years later, hampered by knee and foot injuries, the lineman returned to Cleveland overweight and percolating with confidence.

“I’m planning on starting,” he told Browns reporters. “I’m going for rookie of the year.”

Dispatches from training camp were less enthusiastic: “(Corbett runs) the 40 yards at a pace of an office manager running out a pop fly at the company picnic,” observed Plain Dealer’s Chuck Heaton.

In a matter of weeks, the 6-foot-4, 299-pounder would be carried from the practice field with a knee injury. In a matter of months, Corbett was out of football without having ever played a down in the NFL.

The Browns have had their share of dubious drafts days in the past four decades. But if Hollywood truly wanted to cast Kevin Costner in an entertaining role, it could have based a movie on the club’s 1974 draft.

Doug Dieken and the Browns didn't have many reasons to celebrate against the Steelers following the 1974 draft. The Steelers won 11 of the next 12 games.

Talk about your dark comedies. Only one pick, reserve offensive lineman Gerry Sullivan, played more than 15 games for the team in an era when the draft stretched an interminable 17 rounds.

Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Steelers enjoyed one of the greatest talent hauls in sports history as their first four picks – receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, linebacker Jack Lambert and center Mike Webster -- went on to Hall-of-Fame careers.

“That was the turning point between the Browns and Steelers,” former Browns defensive lineman Jerry Sherk said.

“That draft was the final nail in the coffin for the transition of power between the teams,” de facto Browns historian Steve King added.

The Steelers, who had been building through the draft since 1969, won four of the next six Super Bowls. They also captured 11 of the next 12 games against the Browns, a franchise that had been the envy of many since entering the NFL in 1950.

On Wednesday night, the NFL Network will debut "Caught in the Draft: 1974." The hour-long documentary focuses on the rise of the Steelers and Dallas Cowboys, franchises that recognized draft picks as lifeblood. Nowadays, most teams are reluctant to part with high selections, but in the early 1970s, some organizations thought it a small price to pay to acquire veteran players. The Washington Redskins reached Super Bowl VII employing such a strategy with the "Over-the-Hill Gang."

The Browns had won league titles in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and owner Art Modell was willing to mortgage the future to keep it going. The ’74 draft helped cripple a club already in transition. Its impact would be felt for years to come.

"When I think of bad Browns drafts, I think of (Eric) Mangini's draft in 2009, but at least they got Alex Mack out of it," King said. "That 1974 draft, especially when you think of what the Steelers added, is right there."

Emphasizing the draft

Art Rooney Jr. speaks about the Browns of the 1950s and 60s in a way many football insiders do today of Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots.

“They were the model, the standard,” said the former Steelers scouting director and son of franchise patriarch Art Rooney. “We always were wondering, ‘What are the Browns doing? What can we learn from them?’ ”

The lack of success and instability to which young Browns fans are accustomed were alien to the organization from its 1946 founding through the early 1970s. It won eight league titles, including four in the NFL. The franchise had three head coaches – Paul Brown, Blanton Collier, Nick Skorich – in its first 29 years. Or, as many as the Steelers had in 1941 alone.

Former Browns defensive end Jerry Sherk said Jack Lambert was so nasty he'd try to pick fights with players during Pro Bowls.

In their first 40 seasons, the Steelers were the George Costanzas of the NFL. Every decision they made seemed like the wrong one. They cut future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas. They kept the single-wing formation until 1952. They traded their 1965 first-round pick to the Chicago Bears, who used it to draft linebacker Dick Butkus.

The Steelers made 15 coaching changes from 1933 to 1968, including firing Johnny "Blood" McNally for missing a team train due to a hangover. McNally's alcohol consumption was legendary. He quit drinking in 1975, explaining to the New York Times, ''I thought I saw King Arthur's Court, and walked through a plate glass window to get there.''

That's the effect those early Steelers teams could have on people.

The Rooneys finally got the coach right in 1969, hiring a former undersized Browns guard in Chuck Noll. The Cleveland native and Benedictine High School graduate had served as an assistant coach for San Diego's Sid Gillman and Baltimore's Don Shula, but Rooney Jr. said his Browns pedigree was unmistakable.

The Steelers' 1974 draft

Player Rd. Overall Lynn Swann 1 21 Jack Lambert 2 46 John Stallworth 4 82 Jimmy Allen 4 100 Mike Webster 5 125 Jim Wolf 6 149 Rich Druschel 6 150 Allen Sitterle 7 165 Scott Garske 7 179 Mark Gefert 8 204 Tommy Reamon 9 223 Charles Davis 9 229 Jim Kregel 10 243 Dave Atkinson 10 254 Dickey Morton 11 283 Hugh Lickiss 12 308 Frank Kolch 13 333 Bruce Henley 14 358 Larry Hunt 15 387 Octavus Morgan 16 412 Larry Moore 17 437

Noll didn’t care about a prospect’s measurables or the size of his school, only that he could play. The Steelers already had beefed up their scouting department, headed by Rooney Jr., and joined forces with Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia to share prospect information in those pre-NFL combine days. They also added Billy Nunn, a former college basketball standout, to their staff. Nunn had been a newspaper editor who picked All-American teams from historically black colleges.

“Billy did a great job,” said Dick Haley, the Steelers former director of player personnel. “He helped give us a pipeline in scouting those schools in the South.”

The Steelers began plucking the likes of Joe Greene (North Texas), Mel Blount (Southern), L.C. Greenwood (Arkansas-Pine Bluff), Dwight White (Texas A&M-Commerce), Ernie Holmes (Texas Southern) and Stallworth (Alabama A&M) from small colleges. Because Noll was such a good teacher, the Steelers believed they could take chances on talented players who might be behind the learning curve.

They won their first playoff game in 1972 on the Immaculate Reception and by the end of the following season had five future Hall-of-Famers on the roster. As the 1974 draft beckoned, the organization knew it was only a few pieces away from a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

The future was not nearly as bright in Cleveland.

Mortgaging the future

Sherk, a Pro Bowl defensive lineman, was a rarity for the Browns in the early 1970s – a high pick who delivered on his promise.

“A good draft for the Browns was a mediocre draft,” he recalled. “It seemed like we had about four scouts . . . and we were throwing darts.”

The Browns lost the NFL title game in 1968-69 – the last two pre-merger seasons – and qualified for the playoffs in 1971-72. But picking so late in drafts was taking a toll -- free agency as we know it didn't exist -- and key figures on those great Browns teams from the ‘60s (Leroy Kelly, Gene Hickerson, Jim Houston, Dick Schafrath, Gary Collins) were retiring or nearing the end of their run.

In the 1970s, the Steelers hit on small-college prospects like Dwight White, while the Browns whiffed on first-round picks such as Mike Phipps.

Attempts to trade veterans for first-round picks failed miserably in the form of quarterback Mike Phipps and receiver Steve Holden.

“We were running on fumes from the guys who had been on the ‘64 championship team,” Dieken said.

In an effort to buoy their run, the Browns made three deals over the course of 1972 and 1973 for veteran players that would doom their 1974 draft.

They traded their first-round pick and 1975 second-rounder to San Diego for a veteran linebacker (Bob Babich) with bad knees. They moved their third-round pick to Denver for a 28-year-old backup quarterback (Don Horn) whose career in Cleveland consisted of eight passes. They sent their fourth-round pick to Oakland for a receiver (Gloster Richardson) who made 22 catches over three seasons.

“They had mortgaged their future for the present because they still thought they could win,” King said. “But when the team dries up around you and you don’t have picks to fortify yourself, then you’re in trouble.”

'Consistency confirms authenticity'

In the era before the NFL required your undivided attention 12 months a year, the draft was held in January. There were no mock drafts. No Mel Kiper-Todd McShay debates. There was no ESPN or major network clamoring to televise the draft.

Sixteen days after the Miami Dolphins won their second straight Super Bowl, representatives from the 26 NFL teams convened at the Americana Hotel in New York.

How have times changed? Not a single quarterback was chosen in the first two rounds.

The Browns' 1974 draft

The draft is considered one of the worst in franchise history. Cleveland had previously traded away its first-, third- and fourth-round picks.

Round Player Position Browns games Browns starts 2. Bill Corbett OT 0 0 5. Mark Ilgenfritz DE 14 0 6. Billy Pritchett FB 14 13 7. Bob Herrick WR 0 0 7. Gerry Sullivan OT 41 15 8. Eddie Brown DB 15 1 9. Dan Scott G 0 0 10. Mike Pueston WR 0 0 11. Tom Gooden K 0 0 12. Ron McNeil DE 0 0 13. Mike Seifert DE 12 0 14. Bob Hunt RB 2 0 15. Ransom Terrell LB 0 0 16. Preston Anderson DB 14 0 17. Carlton Buchanan DT 0 0

The Cowboys earned the first pick thanks to a shrewd deal that sent two veteran players (Billy Parks and Tody Smith) to the Houston Oilers for the Nos. 1 and 51 selections. Dallas turned those choices into defensive end Ed “Too Tall” Jones and quarterback Danny White.

The Cowboys also owned the No. 22 pick and had their eyes on Swann. Noll was so sold on Stallworth, he considered taking him with the No. 21 pick, but the Steelers opted for Swann after receiving a late tip.

“It was like my dad, the horse player, getting some late information from the barn,” Rooney Jr. said. “Swann was a great receiver and competitor, but he didn’t have blazing speed. Right before the draft, he ran the 40 again and shaved a tenth or two off his time.”

The Browns had promoted Bob Nussbaumer to vice president of player personnel in 1974. Dieken’s recollection of Nussbaumer was that of “a Modell yes man,” who three years later would get caught spying on coach Forrest Gregg at the owner’s behest.

The Browns chose Corbett at No. 40 – six picks before the Steelers drafted a skinny, gap-toothed linebacker from Kent State, who played with a mean streak as long as the Browns’ losing streak in Three Rivers Stadium.

“Jack Lambert would get up in the face of his own teammates,” Sherk said. “The guy didn’t have a lower gear. We went to Pro Bowls together and I remember him wanting to get in fights with guards on the other team.”

The Steelers didn’t have a third-round pick, but finally selected Stallworth in the fourth round. Swann and Stallworth afforded quarterback Terry Bradshaw the most dynamic receiving corps of the 1970s.

Nussbaumer got a chance to draft in the fifth round, taking defensive end Mark Ilgenfritz, whose NFL career consisted on 14 games. Seven picks later, the Steelers nabbed the undersized Webster, who developed into one of football’s greatest centers.

The 1974 draft produced five Hall of Famers, the four chosen by the Steelers and Oakland Raiders tight end Dave Casper. No team has ever selected four HOFers in one draft before or since. Safety Donnie Shell, a three-time All Pro, was added to the Steelers' riches that year as an undrafted free agent.

“They hit the mother lode and it put them over the hump,” Dieken said. “And we got nothing. It shows why you have to get legitimate personnel people running your draft.”

A rivalry once dominated by Cleveland grew competitive in 1970 and changed dramatically after the '74 draft. The Browns were 35-13 against the Steelers before it, and are 22-50 ever since.

"Those games in Pittsburgh were like a cat toying with a mouse," said Sherk of the epic 16-game losing skid at Three Rivers Stadium that ended in 1986.

The Steelers won the Super Bowl in 1974. The Browns went 4-10, marking just their second losing season in 29 years. Skorich was fired, but that did not stem the losing. The Browns posted a 3-11 mark a year later and would not return to the postseason until 1980 under Sam Rutigliano.

“Consistency confirms authenticity,” Rutigliano said. “You look at the Steelers since then and they’ve managed to keep the same people in place for a long time. We haven’t been able to do that.”

Since the 1974 draft, the Browns have totaled nine playoff appearances, 16 head coaches (including interims) and 19 seasons with at least 10 losses. In that span, the Steelers have had 24 playoff appearances (six Super Bowl titles), three coaches and four seasons with at least 10 losses.

"When you keep missing on draft picks, it's a road to disaster," Rutigliano said.

Forty years later, the Steelers are the franchise in transition and the Browns are the ones trying to build around six Pro Bowlers. This time, Cleveland has an arsenal of picks, including a pair of first-rounders.

The Browns don't need Hollywood's help on draft day. Just a little bit of luck -- and lots of front-office competence.