You know what they say—numbers don’t lie. But they sure can mislead. Just ask Tom Brady. The man who ended up with seven Super Bowls and an entire generation of quarterbacks trying to be him, was once just some scrawny kid hoping to hear his name called on draft day. Spoiler alert: It took a while.

We all know the story by now, right? Brady’s not-so-memory-worthy Combine—one of the worst 40-yard dashes ever with 5.28 seconds on the clock, a vertical jump that barely cleared a phonebook at 24.5 inches, and a shirtless photo that looked more ‘dad bod’ than ‘future GOAT’. The NFL would have taken one look and collectively said, ‘Hard pass’. And yet, here we are, 25 years later, still talking about how 198 guys were somehow picked ahead of him.

And if you think Brady has let that go, think again.

In a message to the 2025 NFL Draft prospects, he laid it all out—his struggles, his doubts, and how he almost walked away from football entirely. But first, let’s rewind to that brutal moment. As quarterbacks kept coming off the board on Day 2 of the 2000 NFL Draft, Brady had to sit there and watch guys with worse stats—like Spergon Wynn—get picked ahead of him. And Wynn? Let’s just say he wasn’t exactly rewriting record books in college. Brady’s reaction?

“I was better. My numbers were better. I should have gone before him.” Imagine knowing your potential, yet the league still didn’t believe in you. And what could you do? Letting the steam out in a walk around the block with his parents, that must’ve felt like the longest seconds of his life. By the time he got back home, he was mentally preparing for life without football.

“I gave football everything I had, but now it was time to move on. There wasn’t an NFL training camp in my future, only training for a sales position at a local insurance company. I could be good at that, I decided. I could build a happy life from there.” Just imagine that alternate universe. No Brady-Belichick dynasty. No 28-3 comeback… And no avocado ice cream propaganda.

“Then the phone rang, and five minutes later I became pick 199.”

The fateful call from the Patriots that made history. Twenty-three years of proving those 198 picks wrong, redefining what it means to be great, and turning “199” into a badge of honor instead of an insult.

Brady’s message to the new draft class? Don’t let the numbers define you. In fact, you define them! Today, 199 for him stands as a shorthand for, “Stay motivated and goal-oriented, to focus on what matters, and to work hard at getting better at all the things I care about” as he says, “The thing that should free all of us from the tyranny of numbers is that there is no metric for the intangibles: heart, passion, work ethic, the will to be great.” And really, isn’t that the whole point? A stopwatch won’t measure your grind. A vertical jump won’t show your resilience. And a bad draft slot? It’s only a failure if you let it be.

So yeah, prospects will hear their names called in April. Some early, some late, some… never. But as Brady made clear, that’s not what matters. Because the real battle isn’t against the guys drafted before you. It’s you vs. you. And if the greatest quarterback of all time can turn being picked 199th into a legendary career, what’s stopping the next one?

Not that we are suggesting that there can be another TB12 in the making (if it does happen, then good)… Phew! That’s a whole different ballgame to fill in those shoes.

Not everyone is Tom Brady: The biggest draft steal in history!

The year was 2000, and the New England Patriots were a complete mess. They had just fired Pete Carroll, lost six of their last eight games, and had a roster that was more holes than depth. Enter Bill Belichick, who was about to pull off the biggest heist in draft history. And no, it wasn’t planned. The Patriots weren’t exactly desperate for a quarterback. They had bigger problems. But when the board kept clearing, one name was sitting there, almost mocking them—Tom Brady.

The Patriots liked Brady. A lot. But they had 99 other fires to put out first. Brady wasn’t a physical marvel, but something about his leadership and mental makeup stood out. As Belichick later said, “He was the best fit for our system.” The team’s new quarterbacks coach, Dick Rehbein, saw it too. He had fresh eyes, no preconceived notions, and a gut feeling that this Michigan kid had something the NFL overlooked.

Other teams saw a backup, at best. Michigan couldn’t even fully commit to Brady, splitting snaps with Drew Henson. Scouts? They saw a guy who was slow, lanky, and unimpressive on paper. His Combine numbers? Laughable. His 40-yard dash (5.28 seconds) was so slow he probably had time to check his watch mid-run. “He did not have the prototypical NFL body. He came out kinda skinny [and] they didn’t think he was strong enough.” Don Banks of Sports Illustrated on the NFL Network bluntly put it.

Brady waited. And waited. Six quarterbacks—some who never even played a snap—got picked before him. He sat there watching, probably thinking about that Merrill Lynch summer internship he had lined up. Pick after pick, teams passed, and doubt crept in. But then, finally, the Patriots were on the clock at 199. They looked at their draft board, saw Brady sitting alone, and finally said, “What are we doing?”

It wasn’t just luck. The Patriots had to make sacrifices to keep him. Teams usually carry two, maybe three quarterbacks—New England kept four that season. That alone told you they saw something special. Brady barely played his rookie year, throwing just three passes. But they held onto him, anyway. They knew. Or at least, they had a strong feeling.

A sixth-round pick. A four-string rookie. A team in chaos. And yet, 25 years later, we all know how this story ends. Seven Super Bowls, a record-breaking career, and a legacy that changed football forever.

Not everyone is Tom Brady. But sometimes, all it takes is one team willing to take the risk. And the Patriots? They struck gold.