The New England Patriots and the rest of the NFL are one week away from taking their first steps on a gridiron without Tom Brady.
Brady will still have a looming premonition over the Patriots: not only are they still attempting to fill the starting quarterback void he left in 2020 on a more structured, long-term basis, but they are also planning to honor his Foxborough career during their Week 1 game against the Philadelphia Eagles (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS).
The Patriots released the media conference call from the 2000 selection that clinched Brady’s fate in New England in anticipation of his honorary return to Gillette Stadium. Brady was taken as the 199th overall choice in previous drafts, and that moment is now available for fans to remember.
The call contains many characteristics that would become commonplace in Brady’s legendary career: from the start, for example, Brady displays the competitiveness that would define his NFL days, revealing it upon learning he’ll start his career behind Drew Bledsoe and Michael Bishop.
‘All I wanted was a place to get my foot in the door and try to be great for the team that drafted me,’ Brady stated in his first press conference as a New England Patriot. “You know, Drew Bledsoe is without a doubt one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and it’ll be fantastic to learn from him and compete for a job with the Patriots.”
“I think the team picked me to come in there and go out there and be a team player and fight every day, and that’s really what I plan to do,” Brady added. “I’ve always been more concerned with what I can do, and I don’t give much thought to the other guys because I know I’m not at my best when I’m not controlling and playing as well as I possibly can.”
Brady ended up starting the season as New England’s fourth quarterback. John Friesz is also present. He finished the year as the No. 2, trailing at the end of the year. In the midst of a 5-11 season, Bill Belichick’s first as the Patriots’ head coach. A Bledsoe injury in September 2001 gave him a chance in the starting lineup, and the rest is history, with six Super Bowls (five in New England) and innumerable franchise and NFL records.
Brady, fresh out of Michigan, also dismisses various worries about his NFL debut, including his size, the fact that he shared top passing duties in Ann Arbor, and his prospective baseball future (he was selected by the Montreal Expos in the 1995 MLB Draft).
Brady could have been disappointed for a number of reasons, including the crowded New England quarterback room and the Patriots’ relatively poor state. He was the seventh quarterback chosen, trailing Chad Pennington (NY Jets), Giovanni Carmazzi (San Francisco), Chris Redman (Baltimore), Tee Martin (Pittsburgh), Marc Bulger (New Orleans), and Spergon Wynn (Cleveland).
The eventual Hall of Famer, on the other hand, accepted the New England challenge, for which numerous Foxborough fans are glad.
“This is a great step forward for me,” Brady says. “It’ll be a huge challenge, but I think I’m up for it.” Actually, I’m confident that I’m prepared.”