Brady almost drafted by the Giants in 2000

[Observer]

Thank You Lord for having me live in THIS parallel universe

You could be a Giants fan in the other one

 

[SHOWTIME15]

With all due respect to Brady, and he's owed a LOT, I don't think he would have had 5 SB wins with the Giants. I think a lot of the Pats' success, has to do with OUR GM and HC - Bill Belichick. Not saying TB wouldn't have taken the Giants to the SB, because God knows that if that dimwit Manning was able to take them twice, TB would have managed to get them another 1 or 2 - at least. But again, you can't assume that Brady career would have turned out the same way as it turned in NE.

Just my .02.

There is no question brady and belichick needed each other for the 5 SBs. they may have gotten 2 each otherwise.

 

[The Brandon Five]

I remember when I almost bought into the Apple IPO.

 

[Wheelman]

And apparently Mike Riley, HC of the Chargers at the time wanted to draft Brady and his GM looked at film and said he wasn't good enough.

Mike Riley wanted Brady when he was an OC at USC too.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

I remember when I almost bought into the Apple IPO.

Wait, you missed out?

 

[Oswlek]

Thank You Lord for having me live in THIS parallel universe

I'm not even sure if that horrifying version could be described as "parallel".

 

[SuperStang83]

...and we would all hate Tom Brady!!

 

[Oswlek]

Hey I did that too!

I almost did.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

that and the "would you believe..." were two of the best lines from that show....oh and the cone of silence....

 

[BradyFTW!]

And apparently Mike Riley, HC of the Chargers at the time wanted to draft Brady and his GM looked at film and said he wasn't good enough.

Mike Riley wanted Brady when he was an OC at USC too.

I'm always a little skeptical when people say this stuff years after the fact. Seems like an easy way to seem smart with zero accountability, to just throw it out there that you were the one guy in the organization who saw how good Brady really was. But the Riley story is actually kinda credible because Brady's parents kinda back it up and there's real history there.

Likewise, I buy this Accorsi story where I don't buy most others because for once he's the guy acknowledging he was the one who ****ed up, and admitting that it was someone else in the room who wanted them to take Brady.

 

[TruthSeeker]

So it's not like NFL teams didn't get a chance to watch a ton of Brady during the season. He wasn't playing at Kalamazoo U (not sure if this is a real place or not).

Close; it's Kalamazoo College. My brother-in-law is a physics professor there.

 

[GodBrady]

I always roll my eyes at stories like this. You hear it all the time, that "one scout" wanted a player "really badly" and "really insisted on drafting him". I actually believe it happened.

However, teams have lots of scouts. And among those scouts, each of them was probably very passionate and insistent on drafting their personal favorites through the years -- many of whom went on to become huge busts. If you pooled all of your scouts, and independently polled them on sleepers or personal faves, you'd probably get representation of a huge chunk of the players in the draft.

It's kind of like when you're watching a baseball game, and your friend "calls" a home run before it happens, then brags about it for months. It's cool that you predicted the home run, but let's bring up the 24 other times he predicted a home run and it didn't come to fruition. In the grand scheme of things it's really not that impressive.

 

[dafoe2016]

There's a slice of reality where we are all on a Giants board, happy that the Pats didn't draft him.

I would never root for the Giants. Not in any reality.

 

[Biffins]

Ron Dayne was their 1st round pick that year. Ouch.

They also drafted Brady's teammate, Dhani Jones earlier in the 6th round (177), 22 spots before Brady went. Several Michigan players actually went before Brady.

Round (Pick) Position Player
2 (40) LB Ian Gold
4 (110) TE Aaron Shea
4 (122) DT Josh Williams
6 (177) Dhani Jones

So it's not like NFL teams didn't get a chance to watch a ton of Brady during the season. He wasn't playing at Kalamazoo U (not sure if this is a real place or not).

But even if they drafted him, I wonder if they would have kept him. People always point to Belichick getting lucky by drafting Brady in the 6th, but they overlook that he KEPT him as the 4th QB. And he kept him even after Drew came back from his injury. BB is one of the few that will let the best player play, regardless of draft position or contract.

Most teams would never have done that, and even if they kept Tom, he would have went right back to the bench after Bledsoe got healthy.

So yes, there was some luck involved. But there's also more to it than that.

Actually there's a long history of players/QBs losing their jobs while injured and not getting them back. Dak over Tony Romo and Colin over Alex Smith only being the most recent examples (I believe Alex Smith was having a superb season the year Colin replaced him mid-season). Lots of teams would keep the better/younger player over the older injured vet.

 

[1960Pats]

Ron Dayne was their 1st round pick that year. Ouch.

They also drafted Brady's teammate, Dhani Jones earlier in the 6th round (177), 22 spots before Brady went. Several Michigan players actually went before Brady.

Round (Pick) Position Player
2 (40) LB Ian Gold
4 (110) TE Aaron Shea
4 (122) DT Josh Williams
6 (177) Dhani Jones

So it's not like NFL teams didn't get a chance to watch a ton of Brady during the season. He wasn't playing at Kalamazoo U (not sure if this is a real place or not).

But even if they drafted him, I wonder if they would have kept him. People always point to Belichick getting lucky by drafting Brady in the 6th, but they overlook that he KEPT him as the 4th QB. And he kept him even after Drew came back from his injury. BB is one of the few that will let the best player play, regardless of draft position or contract.

Most teams would never have done that, and even if they kept Tom, he would have went right back to the bench after Bledsoe got healthy.

So yes, there was some luck involved. But there's also more to it than that.

The fact that one NYFL team, and one only, the Pats, even talked about Brady to the HC, leads me to believe that anyone who now says they almost drafted him is less than credible.

We were blessed the day that **** Reihbein (RIP) saw what Brady would become and was able to convince the Pats to take him. When we look at Brady now it's easy to see the fire that burns inside him, but that may not have been the case back then.

Ahhhh, good ol' Kalamazoo...

Kalamazoo College – Kalamazoo College

 

[1960Pats]

I always roll my eyes at stories like this. You hear it all the time, that "one scout" wanted a player "really badly" and "really insisted on drafting him". I actually believe it happened.

However, teams have lots of scouts. And among those scouts, each of them was probably very passionate and insistent on drafting their personal favorites through the years -- many of whom went on to become huge busts. If you pooled all of your scouts, and independently polled them on sleepers or personal faves, you'd probably get representation of a huge chunk of the players in the draft.

It's kind of like when you're watching a baseball game, and your friend "calls" a home run before it happens, then brags about it for months. It's cool that you predicted the home run, but let's bring up the 24 other times he predicted a home run and it didn't come to fruition. In the grand scheme of things it's really not that impressive.

I liked the way that Eddie Andelman did it in the old days. He'd record a tape of every team at the start of the season predicting that they'd win and then repeatedly play the one of the team that won afterward. It was actually kind of funny at the time.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Wait, you missed out?

Heck, MA made it illegal for MA residents to buy into Apple's IPO. (Though I assume there were ways around that.)

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Actually there's a long history of players/QBs losing their jobs while injured and not getting them back. Dak over Tony Romo and Colin over Alex Smith only being the most recent examples (I believe Alex Smith was having a superb season the year Colin replaced him mid-season). Lots of teams would keep the better/younger player over the older injured vet.

That's recent history. At the time BB did it, we had just signed Bledsoe to the biggest contract in the league.

But yes, more teams are getting better about it. The Cowboys stubbornly kept trotting Claiborne out there and other high picks who may not deserve it, but did finally turn it over to Dakota, albeit only after Moore got hurt and they lost out on Nick Foles, and only drafted Dak reluctantly after missing out on Paxton Lynch and Conner Cook in the draft.

 

[goheels22002]

I heard that Pete Carroll almost decided to hand the ball off to Beast Mode at the one-yard line with 26 seconds left in the Super Bowl.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Reminds me of that time I almost did something, but then I didn't.

Personally, I didn't do a lot of things before I did them.