Browns won four AAFC championships from 1946-49, bringing their total franchise championships to eight

Kelsey Russo

Four more years of the Cleveland Browns' history have officially been added to the NFL record books.

At the 2025 NFL Annual Meeting, NFL owners approved a report that the statistics from the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) including statistics for individual players and coaches as well as team statistics would be incorporated into the NFL's official records.

The AAFC lasted from 1946-1949 and was a competitor of the NFL. During those four years, the Cleveland Browns dominated the league, winning all four AAFC championships. Coached by Paul Brown, the Browns held a 47-4-3 record over four seasons.

The Browns now have eight league championships four AAFC championships and four NFL championships. Outside of the seven Brown coached the team to, the Browns also won the 1964 NFL championship under Blanton Collier.

From an individual standpoint, one of the biggest changes with the inclusion of the statistics is Brown's coaching record. Brown co-founded the franchise and became the head coach of the Browns in 1946 and won all four AAFC championships. He also won 47 regular season games in the AAFC, and nine additional postseason games.

When the Browns joined the NFL, Brown then coached the team to three NFL championships in 1950, 1954 and 1955. In the NFL, Brown also has 166 regular season wins, four postseason wins and three championships over 21 seasons. Brown's new career total is 222 career wins and seven championships.

Not only does it increase his overall career total, but it also moves Brown up in the list of all-time wins. In the 2024 NFL record and fact book, Brown was in ranked 21st. With the inclusion of AAFC records, he will be in seventh place just behind Curly Lambeau, who had 229 overall victories, and ahead of Chuck Noll with 209.

But Brown isn't the only former Brown positively affected by the adjustment. Quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley and tackle/placekicker Lou Groza who are each in the Pro Football Hall of Fame are engrained even deeper in NFL history.

Groza moves from 41st all-time in scoring to 24th all-time with 1,608 points. He played his entire career of 21 seasons for the Browns.

Graham, who won the AAFC MVP in 1947, sits at 95th all-time in career passing yards with 23,584. Of his total passing yards, 10,085 came from the four seasons in the AAFC. Graham went on to play a total of 10 seasons with the Browns from 1946-55 and won seven league championships. He was later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965.

Motley now has the fourth-highest career rushing average of 5.7 yards per carry, sitting behind Michael Vick (7.0), Randall Cunningham (6.4) and Lamar Jackson (6.1). Yet, Motley leads all running backs with at least 750 carries with the adjustment of the AAFC seasons. Motley is also tied for 176th in career yards with 4,720 with 3,024 yards from his four AAFC seasons.