The two biggest storylines of the 1999 NFL Draft were the Cleveland Browns’ return to the NFL and who the deserving number one overall pick was going to be.
The two quarterbacks at the top of the charts were Kentucky’s Tim Couch and Syracuse’s Donovan McNabb. The top skill players were running backs Ricky Williams and Edgerrin James, along with wide receiver Torry Holt.
There is a joke to be made here that Cleveland had four players staring at them, and they chose the one who wouldn’t pan out. However, they could have selected prime Tom Brady with that pick, and it would not have mattered.
Leading up to the draft, former Texas Longhorn Ricky Williams dreamt about being the number one overall pick. On Jon Gruden’s podcast, Williams told the story of what was on his mind leading up to the draft.
He said, “I wanted to be the number one pick in the draft. That was my goal, and I thought I had the resume in college to show that I deserved it… at night, I would go to sleep and dream of myself being a part of the Dawg Pound. I felt that the way I played football, the way I approached the game, it would have fit in Cleveland.”
There are a lot of ways to look back on what could have been for Cleveland had they selected Williams instead of Couch. However, all of them would have been the wrong decision. It would have been a crime not to select a quarterback when you quite literally do not have a team.
With all that said, if they did select Williams, he would have had a similar career flameout that Couch did. Cleveland’s return roster was simply so bad. The Browns were the first expansion team since the NFL changed the rules for the Panthers and Jaguars, as their set of rules was too generous, while Cleveland’s was probably a bit too restrictive.
Williams draft story became one of the best ones of all time. After he didn’t go number one overall and fell past pick number three, the New Orleans Saints decided they were going to have him at all costs. They traded their entire 1999 NFL Draft trade capital to the Washington Redskins. Eight picks in total to go up to get Williams.
Cleveland needed a quarterback, but they also needed a first-round draft pick at pretty much every other position in order to compete in the NFL. I wouldn’t have been much less of a disaster if Cleveland selected Williams over Couch, but the change in history can be whatever you want it to be.
Would Williams have been successful in Cleveland? Maybe.
Would he have had a totally forgotten-about and irrelevant career if he had been drafted to Cleveland?
Probably.
This article originally appeared on Browns Wire: NFL legend “dreamt” about being apart of the Browns’ Dawg Pound
Reporting by Anthony Moeglin, Browns Wire / Browns Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Anthony Moeglin, Browns Wire | USA TODAY Network
