Newsome believes the old Browns would have turned into a powerhouse in Cleveland.
"I'm saying we would have remained a good football team because it would have started with Belichick," Newsome said. "And all of us were there together. You can't write the story without adding Belichick to it."
After being fired by Modell, Belichick repaired to former mentor Bill Parcells, spending one year with the Jets and three years with New England. Rather than succeed Parcells as coach of the Jets, Belichick, after 24 hours on the job, fled to New England to take over the Patriots in 2000.
As Newsome and the Ravens had their Super Bowl season, Belichick planted the seeds of a modern-day NFL dynasty -- three Super Bowl championships in his first five seasons and four Super Bowl appearances overall in nine years as coach.
Belichick teamed with Pioli to build the New England championship teams while Newsome ascended to GM with the Ravens.
"You're talking, what, five Super Bowls between us?" Newsome said.
It's all speculation, though, how that group would fit together over time. Would Pioli have been the Browns' GM or Newsome?
"I will say this, Bill was giving me more and more responsibility and entrusting me with it," Newsome said. "Art and [former team executive] Jim Bailey were willing to pull the trigger six months after [the move] happened. It may not have happened right away, but Bill was entrusting me with a lot more and everybody was growing.
"All of us would have been together -- Bill, Scott, Phil, me. I feel I would have continued to gain more and more confidence with Bill and more authority."
