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If ever a franchise, its incredibly loyal followers and their city needed a player to succeed beyond expectations, it's the Browns, its fans and the City of Cleveland. Brady Quinn may or may not become the bright star that many hope or believe he can, but without doubt he has both a great opportunity and the crushing weight of Cleveland's past sports failures to contend with before ever reaching such a lofty level.

Quinn, whether he ends up starting this year or not (although it's highly probable he will before the year is over, given the overall competition) is clearly in a position to capture Browns fan's hearts like no one since Bernie Kosar returned home from that "state down south" to lead the Browns to the precipice of multiple Super Bowls and what could possibly have been Hall of Fame status for the gangly quarterback from Youngstown.

Even beyond what Quinn represents to his team on the field, he means even more to the collective energy and spirit of millions of Browns fans around the world longing for their own version of a John Elway or a Johnny Unitas to finally lead them to the promised land, aka a Super Bowl championship.

Such an accomplishment obviously does not come easy (just ask any fan of any Cleveland sports team), and Brady will need lots of help on the field, but ultimately it will be up to him to be the man, the leader, the player that Browns fans have longed for since Otto Graham was slinging passes to Dante Lavelli in the frozen mud of old Municipal Stadium.

Should Quinn turn out to be that man, that leader, that player, he will be revered in Cleveland like no one before him, and possibly no one to ever come again, given the current historical circumstances that he finds himself in, and the (in)famous passion that Cleveland sports fans, especially Browns fans, are known for.

Despite the mistakes of many national writers and talking heads that referred to him on draft day as a Cleveland "home town boy" (he's actually from Dublin, a suburb of Columbus, but did grow up a Browns fan), Brady could end up forever being associated with Cleveland as the result of his performance on the field. All Browns fans surely hope those memories will include NFL championships, and not a string of "almost's" that has characterized the semi-accomplishments of so many past Cleveland sports teams for so long.

Good luck, Brady. It won't be easy.

Tags: brady quinn, cleveland browns