“Wow! I can’t believe the Patriots just passed on Tom Brady, that fine passer from Michigan, and instead took offensive lineman Adrian Klemm of Hawaii with their first pick of the 2000 draft, the 46th overall, here in the second round.” Now, if one of the well-coiffed, well-spoken but necessarily well-informed talking heads on television had said THAT seven years ago, I might be more excited about watching the 72nd annual NFL Draft tomorrow.

There’s no way that, if Tom Brady is somehow still available in the third round, the Patriots will pass on him in favor of somebody like, say, running back J.R. Redmond of Arizona State. Not that Brady’s likely to still be around when the Pats’ turn comes around. San Francisco is looking for a quarterback, and Brady grew up in the Bay Area, yearning to someday play for the 49ers. He’d be a perfect pick for them.”

If some sagacious scribe had written THAT just prior to the 2000 draft, I might have paid a lot more attention to what’s being written about the players coming out of college this year.

The fact is that the 49ers, instead of drafting Brady, used their third-round pick that year to take Giovanni Carmazzi of Hofstra, who, as it turned out, never played a down in a regular-season NFL game.

Not that the Patriots were in any hurry to draft Brady. After selecting Klemm and Redmond, they took offensive tackle Greg Robinson-Randall in the fourth round and, possessing two choices in the fifth round, used them on tight end Dave Stachelski of Boise State and defensive tackle Jeff Marriott of Missouri. Brady wasn’t even the first of the three sixth-round picks New England had that year. The Pats took cornerback Antwan Harris of Virginia 12 spots ahead of Brady, who was the 199th player drafted.

Cleveland, with the 183rd pick overall, selected Texas State QB Spergon Wynn.

All Brady has done is lead the Patriots to three Super Bowl victories — he was named MVP in two of them — and five playoff appearances, including four in the AFC Championship Game, in the last six years.

Nor was he the only top-notch QB taken late that year. The Saints used their sixth-round choice to select Marc Bulger of West Virginia, who developed into a Pro Bowl player after moving to St. Louis.

Aberrations, you say? Hardly.

In 1983, Dan Marino was the sixth quarterback taken in the first round, behind John Elway and Jim Kelly (understandably) and also (inexplicably) behind Todd Blackledge, Tony Eason and Ken O’Brien.

Joe Montana, who ranks among the greatest QBs of all time, wasn’t drafted until the third round by San Francisco in 1979.

Yet Tim Couch was the first player taken in 1999, by Cleveland. Ryan Leaf went second in 1998, to San Diego. Cincinnati twice blew the third overall pick — in 1979 on Jack Thompson, and again in ’99, on Akili Smith. Joey Harrington was taken third in the draft by Detroit in 2002.

The list goes on. And on.

Which is why, while it’s fun for draftniks to pore over lists of prospects, they shouldn’t take them seriously.

Mock drafts are meant to be mocked.

Consider that, while star running back Curtis Martin wasn’t picked by the Pats until the third round in 1995, Vagas Ferguson (1980), Reggie Dupard (1986) and John Stephens (1988) all were first-round choices. Andre Tippett, the best linebacker in club history, was a second-round choice — actually, the Pats’ second second-round choice, behind running back Robert Weathers. Yet Chris Singleton (1990) was the eighth player taken overall and Andy Katzenmoyer was a first-round pick in 1999.

Tight ends Ben Watson (2004) and Daniel Graham (2002) were drafted in the first round, Marv Cook (1989) in the third, and Scott Gieselman (1986) in the fourth. None measures up to Ben Coates, who was a fifth-round choice in 1991.

Cornerback Chris Canty was drafted in the first round in 1997. Ronnie Lippett was an eighth-round choice in 1983. Which one would you rather have?

And let’s not forget 1985, when the Patriots traded the 16th pick in the first round to San Francisco for the 49ers’ first and second choices — Nos. 28 and 56 overall, since the Niners were coming off a Super Bowl victory over the Dolphins.

While New England wound up getting center Trevor Matich and defensive lineman Ben Thomas with San Francisco’s picks, the 49ers used the choice obtained from New England to land the greatest wide receiver in NFL history — Jerry Rice, out of Mississippi Valley State.

And how, come to think of it, did the the greatest wide receiver in NFL history happen to still be on the board at No. 16?

The point is, I can tell you exactly who the Patriots will pick with their pair of first-round choices tomorrow. They will pick the young man they feel is the best player available, the best value on the board, the one they believe will help them the most.

They will say they are delighted to get him. They will say they were surprised that he still was there when it was their turn to draft.

As for the actual names of said players — that’s anybody’s guess. Because everybody’s guessing — writers, TV talking heads, draft gurus, even the NFL scouts and personnel directors whose professional expertise is every day devoted to evaluating young prospects. Even after countless hours of studying videotape and reports, of personal workouts and one-on-one interviews, NFL teams can only make an educated guess on which players to draft.

Nobody will know this weekend whether the Patriots picked good players or bad ones, whether they had a terrific draft or a horrible one. And anyone who claims to know is full of, well — any word you choose is more likely to be on target than some of the picks the “experts” will be touting, or panning, this weekend.

jdonalds@projo.com