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Bill Belichick Wanted To Select Tom Brady In The 3rd Round Of The 2000 NFL Draft According To A Former Patriots Scout

Kings of Boston Sports



Unknown to many during the 2000 NFL Draft, Bill Belichick was looking at Tom Brady much earlier than the sixth round. Tom Brady’s late selection is said to have given him a huge chip on his shoulder which would help drive his greatness throughout the past 2 decades. What would have happened had he been selected earlier? Would the ambition and drive that turned him from what appeared to be a below average quarterback at the scouting combine have been the same? Tom Brady one the Superbowl with the Patriots in his first year as a starter but he clearly worked extremely hard to become better over the course of his career. Was it the late selection that gave him the desire to set fire to the record books, or would it have always been there?

According to Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht, who was a Patriots scout at the time, things could have gone very different.

“I got my first job with the Patriots in 1999,” Licht said. “It was my first full-time scouting job for a club. We went 8-8 that year. Pete Carroll was the coach. He was let go, and then Bill Belichick was hired and went right into draft meetings the minute he walked into the building. So I got to know him through those meetings. A little intimidating, but he ended up giving me a promotion after that.

“I did not personally scout Tom. I was a Southeast area scout at the time. I listened to the conversations about him and we watched tape together, but I can’t take any credit for Tom being drafted.”

“I do know that Coach Belichick really had his eye on him for a long time,” Licht said. “We took him in the sixth. We didn’t need a quarterback at the time.”

(Belichick) had him (ranked) much higher than that — he and Scott Pioli had him much higher than that on the board. The conversation started with, if I recall correctly, the third round, and he was still sitting there in the sixth and they took him.”

The Patriots already had Drew Bledsoe and even gave him a 10 year contract worth $103 million, the largest in NFL history at the time after Brady was drafted and already had two other backup quarterbacks on the roster with Michael Bishop and John Friesz. Bill Belichick really must have seen something special in Tom from the start if he wanted him that early.