What if Tom Brady was drafted by the Cleveland Browns?

What if the New England Patriots dynasty happened in Cleveland?

It’s hard to imagine the New England Patriots success happening anywhere else, but what if, barring a whole slew of changes, the Cleveland Browns became the dominant team in the league with championships, a Hall of Fame coach, and most importantly Tom Brady.

We all know the story, nearly every team in the league passed on Tom Brady, and for good reason. He was essentially an unknown coming out of Michigan, so this could be said for any team that took a swing on the lanky, awkward QB. But the Browns had more draft picks in the 2000 NFL Draft than any other team, and very well could have used any number of them to take Brady.

This, of course, would be contingent on a couple things. First, we’re talking about the first-edition Cleveland Browns, the team that was coached by Bill Belichick himself before former owner Art Modell shipped the team off to Baltimore. So let’s say that Modell has a change of heart, keeps the Dawg Pound in Cleveland and Belichick is still coaching.

This is where the most important aspect of this fairy tale happens. The reason the Patriots drafted Tom Brady over any other quarterback in the draft was because of New England’s late QB coach Dick Rehbein. After scouting all the available quarterbacks on the board, Brady’s leadership ability and mental makeup impressed Rehbein the most and Belichick trusted his instincts.

So, let’s assume that Rehbein follows Belichick to Cleveland just as he did to New England and there would be no reason the Browns wouldn’t take Brady in the sixth round or possibly even higher.

Now that Brady is on the Browns, what does it look like from there? Well, he wouldn’t get the immediate keys to the franchise, the Browns did just draft Tim Couch the year prior to Brady’s draft. But similar to how Brady’s career was jumpstarted by an injury on the roster, Couch’s injuries would provide the catalyst that begins Brady’s career in the NFL.

Success wouldn’t be instant, Super Bowls wouldn’t be rolling in as quickly, however with Belichick calling the shots and Brady under center the Browns could made a few playoff runs in the early years.

Adding Brady wouldn’t be the only thing that would change the Browns fortune. Every year Belichick would do his best to retool the team to put them in the position to compete for at title. Instead of players signing short deals with the Patriots to win a Super Bowl, they’d all be moving to the midwest to lineup with Brady in a Browns uniform.

Think about the 2007 Browns team, the last year Cleveland knew success. They narrowly missed the playoffs because of two different tiebreakers, but swap out Derek Anderson for Brady — the year he threw for 50 touchdowns en route to his fourth Super Bowl appearance — that could’ve been the Browns.

Imagine getting Brady versus Ben Roethlisberger twice a year in the regular season for two decades, those matchups are typically only reserved for the AFC Championship game.

If Brady and Belichick were with the Browns, Cleveland’s championship drought would’ve been over sooner, and the Browns would’ve been at the center of the football landscape with one of the greatest quarterback/coaching duos the game has ever seen if Art Modell didn’t ditch the city for greener pastures.