Tom Brady reveals his ‘Naive’ nature heading into the 2000 NFL Draft as he expected to be a Second or Third Round pick

Brady was picked 199th overall in the sixth round of the 2000 Draft.

Tom Brady reveals his ‘Naive’ nature heading into the 2000 NFL Draft as he expected to be a Second or Third Round pick

Tom Brady (via IMAGO)

The NFL Draft is hardly a month away, it will provide an opportunity to 257 players from college who will fulfil their lifelong dream of making it to the biggest stage in all of football. However, the Draft does not go as anticipated for all players. The night could end up being a nightmare for players who go undrafted or end up falling to the later rounds. The draft number at which a player is picked is not interrelated to their talent, the prime example of this being Tom Brady.

The greatest QB of all time was drafted 199th overall in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. But heading into the draft, he expected to be picked much higher. He revealed at the 96th Annual DCAT Dinner that he saw himself as being a second or third-round pick.

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Here is what Brady had to say:

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I thought that I would actually, in my own-naive way, be a 'Ohh! You know I should be a second or third-round draft pick in the NFL. And there were a lot of other people who didn't quite see it that way. I thought that way and I think my mom and dad thought that way and maybe my agent, but that was about it.
Tom Brady said

Turns out Brady, his agent, and his parents were all joking themselves. That night was arguably the longest night of his life because he had to sit there hoping to hear his name get called as the Commissioner continued to call upon the names of other players and quarterbacks. But his turn came, better late than never. Bill Belichick decided to take a chance on him even though he drafted Brady to serve as a backup to Drew Bledsoe.

Tom Brady ended up becoming the best quarterback from the 2000 Draft Class

The rest is pretty much history. Drew Bledsoe suffered a serious injury which resulted in him having an internal bleed in his chest cavity and a rib cage collapse. This led the Patriots to give Tom Brady his first shot in the NFL and from that point onwards, he held on to that starter’s role for nearly two decades. Ironically, Brady ended up becoming the most successful QB from his draft class.

Tom Brady
Tom Brady (via IMAGO)

There were six quarterbacks who were drafted before him. Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazi, Chris Redman, Tee Martin, Marc Bulger, and Spergon Wynn. All of them did not last long in the NFL and proved to be underwhelming. Brady went on to win seven Super Bowls and establish himself as the greatest QB of all time.

His story has a valuable lesson in it. Irrespective of what number a player is drafted at, they can always outwork their competitors and be the writer of their legacy. In retrospect, it was not shocking to see Brady fall as far as he did in the draft because he had an average build and ran the slowest 40-yard dash. He was not a player that teams viewed as a capable QB worthy of turning their team around.

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