'I need to get a ring': Cloverleaf's Kyle Juszczyk on mission bigger than 49ers vs. Browns

Kyle Juszczyk is bringing a remarkable NFL resume back to Northeast Ohio, where the San Francisco 49ers fullback will face the Browns on Sunday.

A Cloverleaf High School graduate, Juszczyk has an active streak of seven consecutive Pro Bowl selections. He earned a spot on the first NFL Players Association All-Pro team last season. And he caught a touchdown pass in Super Bowl LIV to end the 2019 season.

A void exists, though.

“To really put an exclamation point on my career, I've got to get a Super Bowl win,” Juszczyk told the Beacon Journal by phone Thursday night. “And that really is the main focus here.

“I need to get a ring, or there always will be that little something missing to my career.”

Based on the first five games of this NFL season, Kyle Juszczyk says the 2023 San Francisco 49ers are the best team for which he has played

The Niners (5-0) have the look of a true contender as they prepare to clash with the Browns (2-2), but the 2023 season is still young.

After Juszczyk spent his first four professional seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, he signed with the 49ers as an unrestricted free agent in 2017, joining forces with coach Kyle Shanahan, the offensive coordinator of the Browns in 2014.

The Niners went 6-10 and 4-12 in their first two seasons under Shanahan, but they improved to 13-3 in 2019 and advanced to the Super Bowl, only to lose 31-20 to the Kansas City Chiefs. This season, the 49ers are coming off their second consecutive defeat in the NFC Championship Game, so they know what deep playoff runs require.

“My confidence is sky high, and, I mean, honestly through five games, I think this is the best team I've been a part of, but unfortunately they don't hand out rings for winning the first five games of the year,” Juszczyk said. “So we're all very well aware of that and very well aware that we need to be even better than we are right now at the end of the season if we want to make it all the way back to that dance and get ourselves a championship. That's been a huge motivating factor.”

Juszczyk is also determined to improve to 8-2 against the Browns. He went 6-2 against them as a member of the AFC North rival Ravens. He has only met the Browns once with San Francisco. It happened in Week 5 of the 2019 season, when the 49ers rolled to a 31-3 home victory on “Monday Night Football.”

There will be no shortage of inspiration for Kyle Juszczyk to excel against the Cleveland Browns

An “insane amount of people” is how Juszczyk described the family and friends who will be cheering for him this weekend at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

“I'll be very well represented at the game,” he said.

A native of Lafayette Township in Medina County, Juszczyk has 13 career catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns against the Browns. He hasn't played in Cleveland since Sept. 18, 2016, when the Ravens prevailed 25-20. He has lost on the lakefront just once — as a 2013 rookie fourth-round draft pick out of Harvard University.

“Anytime you get to go back home and play, there's going to be just that little extra 1% of juice for that game just because you know how many people close to you are watching and you just want to go out there and perform and make everybody proud,” Juszczyk said.

49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk doesn't think he is close to retiring as a football player

Whether Juszczyk, 32, will encounter the Browns again is uncertain, but early in his 11th NFL season, he doesn't consider himself close to the doorstep of retirement. He's under contract with the 49ers through the 2025 season.

“I still feel so healthy, and I still have the same drive and giddiness to go into work every day,” Juszczyk said. “I'm still just having so much fun, and my body genuinely feels good, so I don't feel like I'm quite there yet to hang it up.

“I feel like I can at least play out this contract and hopefully sign another, but it's a year-by-year thing, and we'll see how we're feeling at the end of this season. But if I had to say right now, I'd say I'm just getting started, man. I'm halfway there.”

The Cleveland Browns defense knows it will have its hands full with Pro Bowl fullback Kyle Juszczyk and the rest of the San Francisco 49ers

When Browns defenders have studied Juszczyk on film, they've seen a player who's still operating at an elite level for a team ranked third in the league in yards (402.6) and second in points (33.4) per game.

“What doesn't he do well? He does everything really, really well,” Browns linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. said. “He runs the ball like a running back, catches the ball like a receiver and runs routes, blocks like an O-lineman. He does it all.”

Browns defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo called Juszczyk “a Swiss Army knife” because of his versatility.

“He's one of the core members of their offense,” Okoronkwo said. “They feature him in a lot of different ways. I think he's one of Kyle Shanahan's biggest tools.”

Although running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, left tackle Trent Williams and quarterback Brock Purdy are big-name players on the Niners offense, Juszczyk is a star in his own right.

Juszczyk has played 51.5% of the offense's snaps this season, catching five passes on five targets for 30 yards and a touchdown. He's vital to the zone-blocking scheme the 49ers use to power the NFL's third-ranked rushing offense (156.4 yards a game).

“He's about that blocking life, but they reward him by giving him the ball as well,” Browns safety Grant Delpit said.

Niners standout Kyle Juszczyk is unique in the modern-day NFL

All of this is exceedingly rare, by the way. Not many NFL teams use fullbacks nowadays, and even others like Baltimore's Patrick Ricard and Miami's Alec Ingold have different styles than Juszczyk, who's listed by the Niners as 6 feet, 2 inches and 235 pounds.

“I don't really think anyone is doing quite what I'm doing out there,” Juszczyk said.

Browns vs. Brock Purdy: Cleveland defense prepares for the 'point guard' of undefeated 49ers' high-powered offense

Juszczyk is eager to continue to test himself, and the Browns defense is formidable. Cleveland is ranked first in the NFL in fewest yards allowed (196.8) and tied for second in fewest points surrendered (15) per game.

“I see a super-aggressive defense,” Juszczyk said. “They are all over the field. They play with a ton of energy. They're out there hitting, making big plays, celebrating, and you can tell they're really the lifeline of that team. They really are what drives that team, what gives them energy.

“When they come out there and they can make a big hit, a sack, a tackle for loss, that's what really gets their team going. So I have a ton of respect for what they do, and they like to smother you, man. They don't even want to let you get something started. They want to put out the fire right away, and it's going to be a really good matchup with them.”

Knowing Juszczyk's track record, he won't make life easy for his hometown team.

Browns vs. 49ers: Cleveland's struggling run game gets firsthand look at San Fran's swarming defense

Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: 49ers' Kyle Juszczyk says Super Bowl ring would complete NFL career