Tom Brady Sounds Off Following Latest Rookie NFL Draft Comparison

Tom Brady

Getty Tom Brady doesn't forget how his NFL career started.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady apparently wants to use an NFL Draft prospect comparison as bulletin board material.

Mac Jones, a projected first round pick at quarterback from Alabama, has drawn comparisons to Brady because of his leadership and throwing accuracy per ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. The ESPN analyst also linked Jones as the next quarterback with Brady’s old team —the New England Patriots. Former Jones teammate and Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa added that Jones is “more mobile” than Brady, in a Yahoo Sports podcast interview.

Whether or not Brady paid attention to the draft talk, he brought up how Kiper projected Brady as a fifth-round pick in 2000 on Sunday via Twitter.  The former Michigan quarterback went to the Patriots with the 199th pick in the sixth round. Seven Super Bowl victories later, the future Hall of Fame quarterback hasn’t forgotten.

“Still gets me fired up,” Brady wrote in his Tweet.


Draft Stock Challenge

Brady included an NFL Films video in the Tweet, recalling the Kiper draft report on him. The report mentioned Brady having a “poor build” and being “skinny” and “lacks great physical stature and strength.” Additionally, he “gets knocked down easily.”

“Wow,” Brady said with a pause after hearing the report again the video. “That kind of gets me fired up. Because I’m thinking, you know, what the hell do these people know? That sounds like Joe Montana right there.”

“When people tell you, ‘hey, you can’t do this, you can’t do this, and you keep overcoming that, you build this confidence in yourself and this belief in yourself that even when nobody else believes in you that I’m still going to do it because I don’t give an (expletive) what you say because I know what I can do, and I’ve done it,” Brady said.


A Career of Disproving Critics

Brady still makes a career of proving people wrong.

He nabbed the Patriots starting quarterback job after former Pro Bowler Drew Bledsoe’s injury in 2001 and never relinquished it. Brady led the Patriots to six Super Bowl wins from 2001 to 2019 before signing with the Bucs in March 2020 as a free agent.

Tampa hadn’t won a playoff game in 18 years but had a roster loaded with the talent, which added more key pieces following Brady’s arrival. Still, skepticism remained on how far a 43-year-old Brady could lead them amid an up-and-down, pandemic-stricken season.

Then, Brady and company went on a tear to win eight straight games and unseat the 2019 champion Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV 31-9. He finished with his seventh Lombardi Trophy, fifth Super Bowl MVP, and the second-most touchdown passes of his career in a single season —  40. Brady posted on social media about how he “kept all the receipts” on critics’ takes afterward.

He plans to keep going for a few more years, too, as the Bucs plan to extend his contract. Brady has talked about playing until age 45 or beyond, too.

It could mean many more achievements — and a few more Super Bowls — for the GOAT. Along the way, if the Patriots do pick and start Jones, Brady could get a chance to out-duel him this fall when the Bucs visit New England.

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