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How Tom Brady stacks up against the 6 QBs selected ahead of him in the 2000 NFL Draft


Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback in NFL history, but he wasn’t always a highly-regarded player. You need only look back to the 2000 NFL Draft as a reminder.

Brady entered the 2000 NFL Draft after a solid career at Michigan but wasn’t considered among the top quarterbacks even in a weak class. Twelve quarterbacks ended up being selected, and Brady was the seventh of the bunch. He was the 199th overall pick in the sixth round.

Every NFL team passed over Brady multiple times, and six eschewed him for other quarterback prospects. The six quarterbacks selected ahead of Brady didn’t amount to much, and looking back, with the benefit of hindsight, the fact that Brady wasn’t chosen until the sixth round is simply mind-blowing.

So, who were the quarterbacks selected ahead of Brady? And what did they do in their careers? Here’s how the six passers drafted ahead of Brady stack up against him with his 22-year NFL career now over.

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Who were the quarterbacks drafted ahead of Tom Brady?

The 2000 NFL Draft was thought to be weak at the quarterback position, so only six quarterbacks were selected with the first 198 picks of the draft. They were as follows:

Round Pick Player Team
1 18 Chad Pennington Jets
3 65 Giovanni Carmazzi 49ers
3 75 Chris Redman Ravens
5 163 Tee Martin Steelers
6 168 Marc Bulger Saints
6 183 Spurgeon Wynn Browns

This group of passers has affectionately become known as “The Brady 6” over the years.

Breaking down the Brady 6 stats

Not every quarterback selected ahead of Brady was a complete bust. However, few found long-term success at the NFL level. Here’s a statistical breakdown of each quarterback selected in front of Brady.

Chad Pennington stats

Starts Record Comp. % Passing yards Passing TDs Interceptions Rushing yards Rush TDs
81 44-37 66 17,823 102 64 465 7

Pennington was the only quarterback selected in the first two rounds of the 2000 NFL Draft and he put together a nice career. He was a solid starter and led four teams to the playoffs during his 11-year career with the Jets and Dolphins. Pennington had a tough time staying healthy and played just two, full 16-game seasons as a result, so it’s worth wondering if his career would have been better without the injuries.

All told, Pennington had good numbers and posted a 2-4 postseason record. He finished second in MVP voting in 2008 after leading the Dolphins from a 1-15 record to a 11-5 record and an AFC title. Peyton Manning ended up winning the award decisively.

Giovanni-Carmazzi-020122-GETTY-FTR

Giovanni Carmazzi stats

Starts Record Comp. % Passing yards Passing TDs Interceptions Rushing yards Rush TDs
0 0-0 N/a 0 0 0 0 0

The 49ers spent a third-round pick on Giovanni Carmazzi and never saw him play a snap. He spent two seasons with the team entirely as a backup before bouncing around the NFL Europe and CFL.

The lasting memory of Carmazzi’s 49ers career was his 2000 Hall of Fame game performance as a rookie, during which he completed 3 of 7 passes for 19 yards. The 49ers lost that game 20-0, and Carmazzi’s play was overshadowed by a figure on the Patriots’ sideline. It was none other than his fellow rookie, Tom Brady. 

BENDER: 7 ways that Tom Brady redefined NFL greatness

Chris Redman stats

Starts Record Comp. % Passing yards Passing TDs Interceptions Rushing yards Rush TDs
12 4-8 57.2 3,179 21 14 25 0

Redman was the third-leading passer in NCAA history when the Ravens selected him in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft. The Louisville quarterback was a former blue-chip prospect who enjoyed a good college career and was brought in to fight for playing time against Trent Dilfer and Tony Banks.

Redman never emerged as a starter during his career, but he found a role as Matt Ryan’s backup after they hired his college coach Bobby Petrino as their head coach in 2007. Petrino didn’t last the season, but Redman stuck around through his retirement in 2011.

It’s worth noting that Redman was on the Patriots for about five months in 2005. He signed with the team after missing the 2004 season with a shoulder injury. He was supposed to battle for a backup job behind Brady but was cut on June 1, 2005.

Tee Martin stats

Starts Record Comp. % Passing yards Passing TDs Interceptions Rushing yards Rush TDs
0 0-0 37.5 69 0 1 36 0

The Steelers selected Martin as a two-year starter out of Tennessee. He had backed up Peyton Manning during his first two years before leading the Volunteers to a 13-0 record and national championship in 1998.

Martin’s NFL career didn’t go as smoothly. He spent two years with the Steelers, played for the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe, had a cup of coffee with the Eagles and finished his NFL career with the Raiders in 2003. He only threw 16 total passes and completed six of them.

Martin played two years in the CFL before moving into coaching. He started as a high school passing game coordinator before working his way into FBS coaching. He served as USC’s offensive coordinator from 2016 through 2018 and was an assistant head coach at Tennessee before joining the Ravens as their receivers coach in 2021.

Martin has been coaching since 2006. Brady has been to seven Super Bowls and won four during that time frame.

Marc-Bulger-020122-GETTY-FTR

Marc Bulger stats

Starts Record Comp. % Passing yards Passing TDs Interceptions Rushing yards Rush TDs
95 41-54 62.1 22,814 122 93 300 8

Bulger was drafted by the Saints, but he became a starter with the Rams in 2002. He looked like a promising, young quarterback and posted an 18-4 record in his first 22 starts. He took the full-time starting job from Kurt Warner because of that, but things fell apart soon after.

Bulger dealt with injury issues and inconsistent play as his career went on. He went just 5-30 in his final 35 starts over three seasons, throwing 27 touchdowns compared to 34 interceptions. His once-promising career ended in 2010, and the Rams moved on to Sam Bradford as their starting quarterback.

Spergon Wynn stats

Starts Record Comp. % Passing yards Passing TDs Interceptions Rushing yards Rush TDs
3 0-3 46.1 585 1 7 76 0

Wynn had a forgettable NFL career. He made three career starts over three seasons with the Browns and Vikings and tossed a whopping seven interceptions compared to one touchdown. He played four seasons in the CFL, where he finished his career.

MORE: What’s next for the Bucs after Tom Brady’s retirement?

Tom Brady stats vs. Brady 6 stats

The best way to fully understand the scope of Brady’s incredible career in relation to his draft status is to take a look at his career compared to the careers of the six quarterbacks ahead of him. Combined.

Brady’s stats are better than those of the six quarterbacks selected in front of him combined in almost every area. The only one where the Brady 6 have Brady beat is in terms of interceptions, as you can see below.

Players Starts Record Comp. % Passing yards Passing TDs Interceptions Rushing yards Rush TDs
Brady 6 191 89-102 62.8 44,470 246 179 902 15
Tom Brady 316 243-73 64.2 84,520 624 203 1,124 27

That said, Brady has attempted 5,000 more passes during his NFL career, so it stands to reason that his interception figures would be higher. He has that group beat in terms of interception percentage, as Brady has thrown a pick on 1.8 percent of his career passes. The Brady 6 combined have thrown interceptions on 2.8 percent of their passes.

Brady’s winning percentage also dwarfs that of the quarterbacks selected ahead of him. Brady won 76.9 percent of his regular-season starts while his counterparts won just 46.6 percent of their games played. And Brady has more than three times as many wins when factoring in his 35-12 postseason record.

Botched player evaluations happen frequently in the NFL. They were more common in 2000, when NFL front offices had access to fewer resources and less information than they do today.

Still, the fact that so many teams whiffed on their quarterback selections and passed over Brady is amazing in retrospect. And the statistical comparison between Brady and the Brady 6 highlight just how costly those mistakes can be.





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