CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When I heard that Phil Dawson had signed with San Francisco, I thought back to a long conversation that I had with him at the start of the 2012 training camp.

Dawson sensed it would be his last year with the Browns. Of course, he also thought that would be the case in 2011. In the last two years, the team made him a "franchise" player. That wasn't going to happen a third time as it would have cost the Browns about $14 million to do so.

On that hot August afternoon, Dawson told me about his first season in 1999. Not only were the expansion Browns looking for a kicker, they were looking for about everything.

He arrived in camp with a tee and a prayer. He wasn't drafted when he graduated from Texas in 1998. He was cut by Oakland and spent the season on the New England practice squad.

Absolutely nothing was guaranteed. Dawson was one of three kickers trying out. "They cut the other two, and I thought I had made it," he said.

With about a week left in camp, five-year NFL veteran Chris Boniol arrived. It was the coaching staff trying to create more pressure on Dawson, to see if he'd melt. But Dawson stood strong, his kicks stayed straight.

Coach Chris Palmer informed him that he made the team with this sentence: "We'll start with you." The implication was clear -- no promises.

"Those words have always stayed with me," said Dawson. "I'm one kick away from losing a job. Down deep, every kicker knows that."

Fourteen years later, he was still here. I've always considered him Dick Goddard in an orange helmet, given how he knew the winds and weather patterns at the stadium.

Fans didn't just love Dawson because he has stayed around. The man can still kick. He's coming off his first Pro Bowl season. He was 29-of-31 in field goals last season. He's 14-of-15 from 50 yards or more in the last two years.

Out with the old

Not long after Joe Banner was named the Browns CEO, I knew Dawson was in trouble. To the new front office, Dawson is a 38-year-old kicker who would carry a high price tag, too expensive for a team that they are trying to build.

The fact that the 49ers are bringing in Dawson to replace David Akers is significant, at least to Banner. At the end of the 2010 season, the then-Eagles president had to make a decision about Akers, who had made the Pro Bowl and was named to the league's all-decade team for 2000-10.

Banner elected not to pay the 36-year-old Akers. Instead, the Eagles picked Alex Henery in the fourth round from Nebraska, and paid the rookie kicker $2.5 million over four seasons. Akers signed a 3-year, $9 million deal with the 49ers and was a Pro Bowler again in 2011. While the 49ers made the Super Bowl this season, Akers had a rocky season -- connecting on 29 of 42 attempts. He was cut in favor of Dawson.

Banner believed Akers had very little left. My guess is that he feels the same way about Dawson, who signed a one-year deal with the 49ers.

In with the new

Meanwhile, Henery made 51 of 58 field goal attempts in his first two seasons, on a very modest contract. So don't be surprised if the Browns look for a young kicker, be it low in the draft or perhaps someone who has been cut once or twice -- as Dawson was back in the late 1990s.

But it's hard to imagine the Browns finding another Dawson, who was so reliable, so true to the team in orange and brown.

I had no problem with the Browns not re-signing Joshua Cribbs. I didn't know his knee was so bad that it would require off-season surgery, leading Arizona to put the decision to sign him on hold. I knew Cribbs would be 30 on June 9. I knew that he often played in a lot of pain. I knew that his body taken a beating since making the Browns as an undrafted free agent out of Kent State in 2005.

I wondered how much Cribbs could contribute. It's a cruel comment, but it's also business. But I still believe Dawson will be an elite kicker for the next two years, because he has been getting better with age. And I've always believed he will not be fully appreciated until he's gone.

When Dawson was told that the Browns will "start with you," after a few years, I wanted to see him finish his career with the Browns. Now, he's kicking for a Super Bowl team and former Browns special teams coach Brad Seely.

The Browns ... well ... they'll start 2013 with someone new. Let's hope he's worthy of stepping into Dawson's cleats.