What would have come from Tom Brady being drafted by the Giants instead of the Patriots in 2000?
During an appearance on on the “Green Light Podcast” with Chris Long, former Saints coach Sean Payton said he tried to convince New York to draft Brady — who wound up being selected 199th overall pick in the sixth round by the Patriots.
Peyton was in his first year as offensive coordinator with the Giants at the time. His agent, Don Yee, asked him to speak to a client he had just signed. The client was Brady.
“Don would periodically call me with a client that he just signed, and he said, ‘Hey will you call up Tom Brady? He’s at Michigan and I’ve got him, and just help him out with things that would be important for him at the combine,'” Payton said. “
“Basically, I remember it being a half an hour phone call on what’s important. Make a good impression, be prepared to answer some football questions. The interviews were much more informal at that time.”
Sean Payton shakes hands with Tom Brady while they were with the Saints and Patriots Getty ImagesPayton, who graded Brady as a late third or early fourth-round pick at the time, said he didn’t have enough pull in the Giants front office to go to bat for Brady.
“We were [scouting] Brady, now this is going around the room and everyone’s seen Tom run the 40 at the combine. Everyone’s seen, you know, you get the body, weigh in pictures, all of that,” Payton said about Brady’s infamous combine photo, that shows him appearing lanky in a pair of gray shorts.
The infamous Tom Brady combine photo from 2000 Twitter“So, you have a guy who is not fully developed yet who was pretty much a one-year starter. You could tell that he needs the weight room,” Payton said. “But Lloyd Carr [Michigan head coach] said this, I’ll never forget it, he said he’s the toughest player that he’s ever coached. That meant something.”
The Giants passed on Brady in 2000 to draft Ron Dayne, Cornelius Griffin, Ron Dixon, Brandon Short, Ralph Brown and Dhani Jones.
New York had Kerry Collins as their quarterback at the time, who led the Giants to Super Bowl XXXV in 2000, where they lost to the Ravens. Jason Garrett was the backup quarterback in New York, and retired after the 2000 season, which would have made room for Brady.
Sean Payton in 2000 while he was the offensive coordinator of the Giants Getty ImagesBut he took his talents to New England, where he won six Super Bowls with Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
Brady left New England after 20 seasons in March 2020 to play for the Buccaneers, and led Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl title in his first year with the team.
After a brief 40-day retirement, Brady announced last month that he plans to return to Tampa Bay for his 23rd season to take care of “unfinished business.” According to a report, however, he originally planned on joining the Dolphins in 2022 as a minority owner – and would have tried to recruit Payton to be the coach.
