Thursday marked the 20th anniversary of one of the biggest moments in Patriots franchise history: the drafting of Tom Brady.
The quarterback, taken in the sixth round with the 199th overall selection, was chosen on the second day of the 2000 NFL Draft. After things had wrapped up that afternoon, Bill Belichick stepped to the podium and discussed each one of New England’s picks. Here’s what he said about Brady, who had led the Wolverines to a dramatic win in the Orange Bowl a few months before.
“The value board at that point really clearly put him as the top value,” Belichick said of the Michigan product. “Brady is a guy that has obviously played at a high level of competition in front of a lot of people and he’s been in a lot of pressure situations. We felt that this year his decision-making was improved from his junior year after he took over for Brian Griese. He cut his interceptions down. He’s a good, tough, competitive, smart quarterback that is a good value, and how he does and what he’ll be able to do, we’ll just put him out there with everybody else and let him compete and we’ll see what happens.”
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Of course, Brady would go on to lead the Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances and six titles before departing last month for Tampa Bay.
Christopher Price can be reached at christopher.price@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at cpriceglobe.