After a Tumultuous Start, Winslow’s Finally Reached Stardom
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

In the spring of 2004, the NFL was ready to label Kellen Winslow its next big star. One year, two games, and two major injuries later, the pendulum had swung so far in the other direction that Winslow was about to be labeled the league’s next big bust. Now, in the third year of his career, Winslow is finally getting the chance to show what kind of player he is: the best tight end in the NFL.
The Cleveland Browns had big plans for Winslow when they traded first- and second-round picks to select him with the sixth pick of the 2004 draft. The league had big plans for him, too. Before he ever stepped on the field, Winslow was already appearing in NFL commercials, and his jersey was one of the most profitable items in the NFL’s lucrative merchandising department. Winslow seemed preordained to follow his father, also a tight end named Kellen, to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
But Winslow broke his leg in his second game, ending his rookie season. In May of 2005, Winslow crashed his motorcycle and tore ligaments in his right knee, causing him to miss his second season. Those injuries dramatically changed the public perception of Winslow from a hugely talented future star to a spoiled rich kid who would never amount to anything.
With the Browns at 3–6 and in last place, few people seem to notice that Winslow is finally on the field and leading all NFL tight ends with 56 catches. That feat is especially impressive because he catches passes from a struggling quarterback, Charlie Frye. When throwing to all of Cleveland’s other receivers, Frye has completed 57.1% of his passes and averaged 5.4 yards a pass. Passing to Winslow, Frye has completed 78.9% of his passes and averaged 7.9 yards a pass.
Frye isn’t the only thing handicapping Winslow. He will have arthroscopic surgery to clean out scar tissue in the knee he injured in that motorcycle crash when the season ends, and he is officially listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, although he has been able to play all season despite knee pain.
Winslow was regarded as a freakishly strong and fast athlete at the University of Miami, but his superior route-running separates him from other athletic tight ends. Many inexperienced players don’t understand the nuances of how to get open and where on the field they need to position themselves, but when the Browns face third-and-7, Frye knows he can find Winslow exactly eight yards past the line of scrimmage. He has the keen understanding of the game that comes from being around it his whole life.
The work ethic Winslow showed in rehabilitating his knee also contributes to his success. Although Winslow has made controversial statements (criticizing the Browns’ game plans this year and calling himself a “soldier” when he was in college), Winslow is well-liked by coaches. He was originally drafted in Cleveland by Butch Davis, the former University of Miami coach who recruited Winslow out of high school and knew that his reputation as a hard worker outweighed his reputation as a loud talker.
His knee injury may have robbed Winslow of the great speed he had in college, and if the surgery he has this off-season gets him back to full speed, the next phase in Winslow’s development will be adding to his current role as a possession receiver and catching more deep passes. His father revolutionized the tight end position by doing exactly that. Of course, his father also played on a great offense and had Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts passing to him. No one will ever confuse Frye with Fouts, but Frye is still just a second-year player with 14 career starts — three more than Winslow. Frye should get better, and when that happens so will Winslow get better.
He’s already plenty good. Winslow got more attention than he deserved at the beginning of his NFL career, but this season he gets less. He’ll get the credit he deserves at the end of the season, when he should be named the league’s Comeback Player of the Year.