Jason Licht on how the Patriots ranked Tom Brady before the 2000 draft

January 29, 2021 | 15:10

When Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht orchestrated Tom Brady’s appointment as a free agency before the 2020 season, it was not the first time that he joined the six-time Super Bowl winner.

Licht, 49, worked for the Patriots in one of his first NFL roles before the start of the Bill Belichick era.

“I got my first job with the Patriots in 1999,” Licht said at a news conference earlier this week. “It was my first full-time scout job for a club. We went 8-8 that year. Pete Carroll was the coach. He was released, and then Bill Belichick was hired and went straight to recruitment meetings the minute he entered the building.

“I met him through these meetings,” said Licht. “A little intimidating, but he ended up giving me a promotion after that.”

During Belichick’s first few weeks as a Patriots coach – after the protracted “border wars” that followed after his resignation from the Jets and subsequent trade to New England – Licht helped put together the team’s plan for the 2000 draft.

Among the names considered at Foxborough was a Michigan quarterback, Tom Brady.

“I didn’t look at Tom personally,” recalls Licht. “I was a scout from the Southeast at the time. I heard the conversations about him and watched the tape together, but I can’t take any credit for the fact that Tom was chosen. “

Still, Licht had some interesting historical insights into what proved to be the most valuable choice in the history of the NFL draft (New England selected Brady with 199th choice).

“I know that coach Belichick has really been watching him for a long time,” said Licht. “We caught him on the sixth. We didn’t need a quarterback at the time. [Belichick ranked] he was much taller than that – he and Scott Pioli had him much taller than on the board. The conversation started, if I remember correctly, in the third round, and he was still sitting there on the sixth and they picked him up. “