I drafted Tom Brady, here’s why the Patriots kept the Super Bowl legend until the sixth round

The New England Patriots were smart and selected Tom Brady after 198 players were selected.

But the Patriots also passed up on the greatest quarterback in NFL history multiple times and ultimately had to convince themselves that Brady should be drafted at the end of the sixth round, despite their internal belief that Brady deserved the No. 1 pick in 2000. A third-round pick.

Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT, Scott Pioli revealed New England’s internal thought process in ultimately deciding Brady was the right player at the right time.

Pioli is a former right-hand man to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and has been named the NFL’s Executive of the Year and Executive of the Decade five times.

“We picked Tommy as a guy that we would probably end up around the fourth round, maybe the third round,” Pioli said.

“Every time we get to that area we talk about our valuable players that are still on the board and Tommy is one of the guys we don’t talk about because you have to draft based on need and the best players available.” . “

Back in 2000, Brady was an elite college quarterback from Michigan, not the seven-time Super Bowl champion who teamed up with Belichick to create a modern-day franchise that spent two decades at the top of the NFL. dynasty.

New England already has three quarterbacks on its roster and serious holes to fill.

Drafting another quarterback doesn’t fit many of the Patriots’ needs, and New England keeps passing on Brady like everyone else.

“We would talk about him and then we would stop talking about him. We would talk about him and then leave him,” Pioli said. “Even in the sixth round, we had two picks and before that we drafted a corner.”

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In the 2000 draft, the Patriots selected defensive back Antwaun Harris from Virginia with the 187th overall pick.

Harris won two Super Bowls but started just two games for New England and spent four seasons in the NFL as a backup.

With the 199th overall pick in the same draft, the Patriots finally listened to their personal draft committee and selected a young quarterback who would change both New England’s legacy and the modern NFL.

“Eventually we started to look at ourselves and realized he was on his own,” Pioli said. “We’re on the left side of the board and we’re like, ‘What are we doing here?’ We’re giving up so much value.”

Pioli added that there’s a longer story about how the Patriots finally “find” the truth about Brady.

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“When we got there, we were $10.5 million over the cap and only had 41 players on our 53-man roster,” he said. “We only have three quarterbacks on our roster, and those are three quarterbacks we can’t cut or move on from.”

For all the accolades Belichick and Brady receive, Pioli insists the team culture has led to New England’s annual dominance in a league known for its annual parity.

“This is our dressing room,” Pioli said. “A lot of people give credit to a few people, which I always feel is unfortunate and inaccurate.

“When I look back at everything we’ve built and the fact that we’ve been able to win year after year – or at least be competitive in the championship, as we call it – it’s because of the locker room and the people. With all due respect, I love Tommy, but it’s not just Tommy.”

After 198 draft picks and a plethora of players quickly exiting the NFL, Pioli and Belichick teamed up to draft the “GOAT” with the 199th overall pick.

“It was not a stroke of genius that we chose him,” Pioli said. “He was also our highest-rated player in the two drafts before that, and we passed him.”