Ex-Browns linebacker Chip Banks in “serious condition” after shooting

Former Cleveland Browns linebacker Chip Banks is reportedly in “serious condition” following a shooting in Atlanta, according to TMZ Sports.

Police officers responded to a call about a shooting around noon on Wednesday and when they arrived they found Banks and two other men suffering from gunshot wounds, according to the report.

One of the men was pronounced dead at the scene, while Banks and the other victim were taken to the hospital for treatment. The 60-year-old Banks is listed in serious condition, according to TMZ Sports.

Banks was Cleveland’s first-round selection in the 1982 NFL Draft. He made an immediate impact by picking up three sacks against the Seattle Seahawks in the first game of his rookie season.

During his five seasons with the Browns, Banks would be named the Defensive Rookie of the Year, earn four Pro Bowl trips, and be named first-team All-Pro in 1993. He had a career-high 11 sacks in 1985.

As talented as he was on the field, Banks’ time with the Browns was not always the smoothest.

He was originally included in the package the Buffalo Bills were to receive in exchange for Buffalo’s supplemental draft pick in 1985 the Browns used to select quarterback Bernie Kosar. The Bills put in a safeguard, however, saying that if Banks did not want to come to Buffalo, they would receive Cleveland’s first-round pick in 1985 instead.

Banks indeed had no intention of going to the Bills, even going as far as threatening to sit out the season, so the Bills decided to take the draft pick instead.

While he was still with the Browns, the situation left Banks feeling less than happy, according to Jonathan Knight’s 2006 book, Sundays in the Pound:

“I couldn’t determine what was going on and exactly how I was going to react and respond to what events were going to happen,” Banks said. “It was a traumatic time for me, I must say.”

The Browns finally succeeded in trading Banks in 1987, when they sent him to the San Diego Chargers along with their first- and second-round selections in that year’s NFL Draft in exchange for San Diego’s first- and second-round picks. The Browns famously used that year’s first-round selection on Duke linebacker Mike Junkin,

According to Knight’s book, the Browns had grown tired of Banks not giving his all in practice and his continued grumbling about his contract. There was also talk that Banks did not have enough fire for head coach Marty Schottenheimer, a claim that Schottenheimer did not deny.

Junkin washed out in Cleveland, surviving just two years with the Browns, but while Banks played five more seasons he never found the same level of success.

Banks did exact some revenge on the Browns when the two teams met on November 1, 1987. He intercepted Kosar on the second play of the game and would later recover a fumble as the Chargers won, 27-24, on overtime.

After playing the 1987 season with the Chargers, Banks sat out in 1988 in a contract dispute. He then played four seasons with the Indianapolis Colts before retiring after the 1992 season, a year where he posted nine sacks.