Kurt Warner may not have changed much in Cleveland
Kurt Warner was available for the Cleveland Browns in the 1999 expansion draft, and believes he could have made a difference if selected.
It is a futile practice to sit up at night and wonder about all the players the Cleveland Browns have passed up in recent drafts. This is true for fans of every NFL team, but the thoughts creep in for Browns fan after the team continues to lose so many games year after year.
Kurt Warner is a player fans may not even realize the team had a chance to snag, as he was left for the taking when it came time for the 1999 expansion draft. Unfortunately, the Browns didn’t bite.
The Browns got their quarterback in Tim Couch, who arguably had a great career when considering what he was up against as an expansion quarterback. But fans are left to wonder what could have been if another player was given the job.
Warner’s name comes up in 2017 after a recent article published by Ron Clements on Sporting News features Warner offering up some interesting thoughts from those expansion draft days:
"But what would have happened had they taken Warner instead of Milanovich? Warner, who won a Super Bowl with the Rams later that same season, believes he could have taken the Browns “to places they’ve never been before.”"
"“Had I gone to Cleveland, how would my career be different? I have no idea,” Warner said Wednesday during a Pro Football Hall of Fame conference call. “It would have been fun to win a Super Bowl in Cleveland, though. But I think when you’re going through the process, and you get to this point I always felt like wherever I was, I’d be successful.”"
Warner is obviously one of the top quarterbacks to play the game in the past generation, but it would have been tough for him to repeat the success he had in St. Louis had he come to Cleveland.
He would not have had anything close to the offensive weapons he had with the Rams, and may have done just as good or maybe a bit better than Couch.
These hypotheticals can be discussed for days, but this one seems simple. Warner isn’t holding any grudge against the Browns, he is just confident he would have been a winner anywhere he played.
Next: Is QB decision a simple one?
And for Browns fans, the decision not to take Warner from the Rams will appear in the prologue of many books chronicling the team’s misfortunes at the quarterback position since 1999.