Picture a beat-up ’73 Ford Pinto sitting in a used car lot. Rusty, slow, overlooked. Now imagine it morphing into a turbocharged Ferrari. That’s Quarterback Tom Brady in a nutshell—a sixth-round draft pick who became football’s ultimate engine. The New England Patriots didn’t just stumble into greatness. They saw gold whereas others saw scrap metal.
Rewind to April 16, 2000. The NFL Draft dragged into its sixth round, and ESPN’s ticker flashed names like Spergon Wynn and Tee Martin. Meanwhile, Quarterback Tom Brady sat sweating in his apartment, clutching a Merrill Lynch internship offer. Six QBs had already been picked. Only one team would gamble on a skinny kid with a 5.28-second 40-yard dash. Spoiler: It wasn’t the Niners.
Quarterback Tom Brady: The Draft Day Heist That Defied Logic
The Patriots entered 2000 like a jalopy on cinder blocks. They were $10.5 million over the salary cap and had just hired Bill Belichick, a coach better known for defense than quarterback whisperer skills. Yet Belichick did something wild: He hired Dick Rehbein, an offensive line coach, to scout QBs. Rehbein’s resume?
Zero experience evaluating passers. But turns out, fresh eyes see what others miss.
“He was the guy that would go in and lead [Michigan] back to victory,” Jason Licht, then a Patriots scout, recalled. Brady’s college tape screamed clutch, but his Combine stats hissed. At 6’4” and 211 pounds, he ran slower than a dial-up connection. Scouts roasted his “weak” arm and “unaesthetic spiral.” But Belichick cared more about grit than gadgets.
While other teams chased measurables, New England bet on intangibles. But here’s where it gets interesting…
Round 6. Pick No. 199.
On this day 20 years ago, @TomBrady was drafted by the New England Patriots. pic.twitter.com/woZm6nqW8B
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 16, 2020
The Patriots already had three quarterbacks, including (future $103 million) star Drew Bledsoe. Drafting another passer made as much sense as adding ketchup to lobster rolls. Yet they burned the 199th pick on Brady anyway. Why? “We were looking for the mental makeup… Belichick did a lot of homework on him, along with our staff, on his mental makeup,” Licht said.
Translation: Brady had the hunger of a kid fighting for a lunchtable seat.
Six QBs went before Brady. Let that sink in: Chad Pennington. Giovanni Carmazzi. Chris Redman. The list reads like a trivia night blunder. Combined, they threw 258 touchdowns. Brady? He’d rack up 710. But on draft day, even Brady doubted. “No matter who you are, there are bumps and hits and bruises along the way, and my advice is to prepare yourself. Football teaches us that success and achievement come from overcoming adversity,” he later said in 2024.
From Clipboard Holder to Crown Holder
Brady’s rookie year was less “red carpet” and more “red-faced.” He threw three passes all season. Then, in 2001, Bledsoe got walloped by Jets linebacker Mo Lewis. Enter Quarterback Tom Brady—a backup so anonymous, announcers found it difficult at times to call him by his name. But by February, he was hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Dynasty launched.
“To be successful at anything, the truth is you don’t have to be special. You just have to be what most people aren’t: consistent, determined, and willing to work for it,” Brady told 60,000 fans at his Patriots Hall of Fame speech in June 2024. His career became a masterclass in outworking doubt. Seven rings. 278 wins. A highlight reel longer than The Godfather trilogy. And it all traced back to that sixth-round Hail Mary.
Off the field, Brady’s hustle never idled. He built TB12 into a wellness empire, snagged a $375 million Fox deal, became a minority Ravens owner, and even dabbled in soccer ownership (shoutout to Birmingham City’s rough season). But like a vintage Mustang, his heart never left New England. The Patriots’ gamble didn’t just win titles—it rewrote how teams scout underdogs.
Today, as New England eyes another draft, they’re chasing the ghost of a dark horse. Because Quarterback Tom Brady wasn’t just a pick. He was proof that greatness isn’t found in combine stats—it’s forged in the grind. And somewhere, a rusty ’73 Pinto just smiled.
Main Photo: Providence Journal
The post Throwback: The Last-Round Gem That Built a Dynasty for New England appeared first on Last Word on Pro Football.