April 15, 2011

The Brady 6

By - Kris Fletcher

I'm really enjoying this whole "Year of the Quarterback" series that ESPN is doing. Last night, I sat down and watched "The Brady 6" episode. Quite frankly, I thought it was a wonderful documentary.

Of course, anyone that knows me, knows my opinion on anything Tom Brady is basically biased to begin with. I think he's the best quarterback of all-time. I mean, my three year old son's name is BRADY. That should tell you exactly where I stand on the guy.

Photo by: Getty Images
But even if you're a Brady-hater, and I know there's plenty of you out there, the episode is still well worth watching. While some of it covers his college and pro highlights, a lot of it looks into the six quarterbacks taken BEFORE him in the 2000 NFL draft. It goes into what they did, or in most cases, DIDN'T DO in the league, and what they're doing now.

I would definitely recommend checking it out if you get a chance. Watching it has inspired me to do my own little segment on "The Brady 6." Here's a look at the six guys that will be forever linked to greatness. Albeit, someone else's, but still...

Chad Pennington: The New York Jets selected Pennington in the 1st round, as the 18th overall pick. He was the first quarterback taken that year, 181 spots ahead of Brady. Pennington became the Jets starter in 2002, and led them to the division title that year. Since then however, his career has basically been one big injury after another. At one point, he had two shoulder surgeries within an eight month span. In 2010, he underwent a fourth shoulder surgery. The two-time Comeback Player of the Year hoped to return for another season in 2011, but he tore his ACL playing a pickup basketball game in March, so his career is probably over. I actually like this guy. It's just unfortunate that he's pretty much made of glass. It prevented him from ever reaching his full potential.

Photo by: Getty Images
Giovanni Carmazzi: Tom Brady actually went to high school within a stones throw of Candlestick Park. He grew up a 49er fan. San Francisco had a chance to take him, but instead, they used pick #65 in the 3rd round on THE BIGGEST BUM of this group, and possibly of that entire draft. I'm sure they STILL regret taking him. Carmazzi never appeared in a regular season game, and was released after two seasons. He currently lives two hours north of San Francisco, and describes himself as a "yoga exercising farmer." He doesn't even own a television. He does own five goats though, unless he had to kill one recently for food. Basically, he's a hermit. This guy was so useless that it took me 30 minutes just to find a photo of him. Nice selection fellas.

Photo from: bleacherreport.com
Chris Redman: The Baltimore Ravens selected Redman with pick #75 in the 3rd round. As a third-stringer, he actually won a Super Bowl ring in his rookie season. The Ravens had high expectations for him, but it never panned out. He was released following the 2003 season. Redman was actually out of the league for several years selling insurance before the Falcons signed him in 2007. He's hoping to return as Matt Ryan's back-up for his 5th season with the team in 2011.

Photo by: Roberto Borea
Tee Martin: The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Martin in the 5th round with pick #163. He appeared in only three NFL games, and completed just six passes. On the bright side, he did lead the Vols to a championship, which is something "the great" Peyton Manning never did. He is currently the wide receivers coach for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Photo by: Lake Fong
Marc Bulger: The New Orleans Saints selected Bulger in the 6th round with pick #168, but he was waived following training camp. The St. Louis Rams picked him up in 2001, and he became the starter the following season when Kurt Warner broke a finger on his throwing hand. Bulger would go on to be a two-time Pro Bowler, but almost as quickly as his star began to shine, it burned out and faded away. The main reason was probably because other star players for the Rams began to age, and once their talents diminished, he became less effective. In 2010, he was Joe Flacco's back-up with the Baltimore Ravens.

Photo by: Chris McGrath
Spergon Wynn: The Cleveland Browns took Wynn in the 6th round with the 183rd pick. The original plan was for him to sit and learn under Tim Couch his rookie season. As fate would have it, Couch got injured, and Wynn was thrown to the wolves. The Browns lost 44-7 to the Baltimore Ravens in his first start. That was pretty much the beginning of the end. He was traded to the Minnesota Vikings the following season, and saw little action there before being released. He currently resides in Houston, and is an energy trader.

Photo from: bleacherreport.com
It's funny how things turn out sometimes. These six quarterbacks were deemed better than Tom Brady in the 2000 draft. Actually, so were one hundred ninety-two other players. In total, one hundred ninety-eight guys were thought to have better upside than he had. It goes to show that the NFL draft is as much of a guessing game as it is anything else.

Three-time Super Bowl winner. Two-time Super Bowl MVP. Two-time league MVP. Not too shabby for pick #199 huh?

Tom Brady Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots warms up prior to their game against the New York Jets during their 2011 AFC divisional playoff game at Gillette Stadium on January 16, 2011 in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
Photo by: Jim Rogash
Ohh, and for all you real Brady fans, check this out as well:

http://www.thebleacherbriefings.com/2011/02/tell-friend-tom-brady-is-best.html

Even if you're a hater, take a look at it anyway. Maybe it will change your opinion of him. Of course, I'm biased though. But you already knew that, right?

17 comments:

  1. It's amazing how a future hall of famer managed to slip so far in the draft. Very entertaining article.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm a Jets fan, so by law I have to hate Brady. Having said that, I'd still take him over Sanchez if given the choice, or over any other qb for that matter. The guys a HOF player, so I can totally respect that. New England got lucky though. No one could have predicted he'd be as good as he is.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I saw the show. Thought it was great! Brady all the way! Nice story!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Brady story never gets old. From 6th round pick to 3-time Super Bowl winner. Unreal!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Brady is a SYSTEM QUARTERBACK. Had he ended up somewhere like Detroit or Cleveland, he would have been out of the league by 2002. He's nowhere near as good as everyone makes out.

    ReplyDelete
  6. A "system quarterback"? Are you insane? I'm sorry, but that has to be one of the most ignorant ass statements I've ever heard. Bill Belichick had a LOSING CAREER RECORD as a head coach the seven seasons he coached BEFORE Tom Brady became his starter, so OBVIOUSLY Brady is the one that MADE THE SYSTEM, not the other way around. I'm aware of the fact that there are people that just don't like Brady, and that's fine. I can't stand Peyton Manning, but I still give him credit for being a good quarterback. People that just hate on Brady JUST FOR THE SAKE of hating on him, are just asinine. No offense. (Hopefully you picked up the sarcasm in that last sentence, cause I layed it on pretty thick.)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well I'm sure you don't like Peyton, cause he's better than Brady. I also think it's kind of childish for you to call me asinine. Why am I asinine, because I voiced an opinion that you don't agree with? Anyone that thinks Tom Brady is the best quarterback of all time is the asinine one. No offense.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Peyton Manning's better than Tom Brady? That's suppose to be a joke right? If not, something's seriously wrong with you.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ohhh none taken. I'll sum up this "argument" with this though. Brady's career passer rating is higher, his career postseason record is better, and he's won more head-to-head match-ups. Ohh yeah, and I almost forgot, he's won 3 Super Bowls to Mannings 1. He also had a team 30 seconds away from going 19-0 in 2007, and he's 1 of only 2 guys in NFL history, Joe Montana being the other, to have both MULTIPLE regular season and Super Bowl MVP awards. So actually, I take that back. You're not asinine. If you actually think that Peyton Manning is better than Tom Brady, completely retarded would be a more accurate way to describe you. And you should take offense to that. If not, let me know. I'm sure I can come up with something even more insulting. In closing, I'd like to add that if I had a problem with people giving their opinion on here, I would simply turn that feature off. But, if you're going to come on here and say stupid stuff, you better be prepared to have something said back to you. That's just how we roll.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Conveniently enough, you failed to mention that Manning has won FOUR MVP awards to Bradys TWO. I'm real shocked.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I didn't mention it because it's TOTALLY irrelevant. If you'd scroll back up and re-read what I posted, I didn't even bring up Brady's MVP awards OTHER THAN pointing out that he's won MULTIPLE regular season AND Super Bowl ones. Brett Favre won three MVP awards, Joe Montana won two, so I guess by your "brilliant" logic, that would mean Favre was a better QB than Montana was right? Well news flash, HE WASN'T. Not even REMOTELY close. If you wanna base it on that, one of Manning's was a CO-MVP that he shared with Steve McNair, and McNair SHOULD HAVE won it outright that season. And last year, Brady's MVP was a UNANIMOUS ONE, which was the first time that's EVER happened. So once again, your argument falls flat. No substance to it whatsoever. Now THAT'S shocking.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Obviously, we could keep goin' back and forth with this indefinitely, so I'll just close with this, Manning has a career LOSING RECORD in the playoffs. Let me repeat that, a career LOSING RECORD in the playoffs. So, if you wanna proclaim he's the best quarterback of all-time knowing that fact, then you go ahead and do it. Manning might be the best REGULAR SEASON QB ever, but being pegged as that is about like being pegged as the smartest kid with down syndrome. Yeah, I'm just gonna go ahead and chalk this little "spirited debate" down as a win for me I think.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yeah I don't see how anyone can argue Manning is better than Brady.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ok. You guys win. Brady is the best ever. My bad. Unreal

    ReplyDelete
  15. Way to just give up man. Sign of a real winner. Lol

    ReplyDelete
  16. ESPN has that Top 100 NFL Players of All Time thing going, and Peyton Manning was like 8th I think, and Tom Brady was 21st. That's just ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I think it was actually the NFL Network that did it. But yeah, I saw the list. How they figure Manning is 13 spots better than Brady is beyond me. Actually, so is the fact that they have Manning AHEAD of him on the list to begin with. Maybe "Jimmy F." was in charge of it. Lol

    ReplyDelete