Over the course of the week leading up to Super Bowl LII between the Patriots and Eagles, providencejournal.com will each day highlight the defining moments of the Patriots franchise over the last 25 years. Coming Thursday: Tom Brady named starting quarterback.
Story published: April 17, 2000
Headline: Patriots add five linemen and a strong-armed QB
FOXBORO — Bill Belichick continued to concentrate on filling what [...]
Over the course of the week leading up to Super Bowl LII between the Patriots and Eagles, providencejournal.com will each day highlight the defining moments of the Patriots franchise over the last 25 years. Coming Thursday: Tom Brady named starting quarterback.
Story published: April 17, 2000
Headline: Patriots add five linemen and a strong-armed QB
FOXBORO — Bill Belichick continued to concentrate on filling what he perceives to be the Patriots' most pressing needs yesterday when he selected five big offensive and defensive linemen in the final four rounds of the NFL's annual college draft.
But the team's new coach and de facto general manager also may have set the stage for a memorably competitive summer by landing a strong-armed quarterback, Tom Brady of Michigan.
Assuming Drew Bledsoe is able to maintain his starting job, veteran John Friese is likely to find himself trying to fend off not one but two young signal-callers, Brady and Michael Bishop, during the preseason for the backup job.
This is a prospect that appears delicious to Belichick, who with choir-boy sincerity promises to give each of the three the opportunity to show what he can do.
"We're going to run the offense we're going to run," he said. "We're not going to change it for a seventh-round choice last year (Bishop) or a sixth-round choice this year, neither of whom has ever taken a snap in a regular-season game.
"If at some point they become the quarterback, then I think we'd adjust it (the offense)," Belichick added. "(But) we're not trying to send a message to anybody. We're just trying to win football games."
Belichick described Brady, a 6-foot-4, 215-pounder with a classic dropback style, as "clearly the best player" on the team's board when the second of its three sixth-round selections was made.
Brady played at a "high level" of competition in the Big Ten last fall when he completed 214-of-341 throws for 2,586 yards and 20 touchdowns with only 8 interceptions last fall at Michigan.
"He has been in a lot of pressure situations in front of a lot of people," Belichick said. "We felt his decision making was improved from his junior year after he took over from Griese (Brian, who started for the Denver Broncos in '99).
The coach said Brady was such a standout on the Pats' board that the team would have been abandoning its scouting system to pass over him in favor of anybody else.
"There's different ways to establish value (for players)," Belichick said, "(but) just by looking at the league, who gets paid the most money and what you have to do to replace players, it's obvious that quarterback is a valuable position.
"I can't think of one time, really, when a team that had value at the quarterback position wasn't able to recoup it, whether it be through something like the trading of Rob Johnson (by Jacksonville to Buffalo) or whatever. (Having) too many quarterbacks is a lot better than having not enough."
Brady said he was looking forward to meeting and working behind Bledsoe, whose style he mirrors.
"All I was looking for was a place to get my foot in the door and try to be great for the team that picked me," he said by telephone. "Drew Bledsoe is certainly one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and it's going to be great to learn under him and compete for a job."
Brady knows he is fourth on the Pats' depth chart, but he isn't fretting over that or what Bledsoe, Friese or Bishop may be able to do.
"I know Mike," he said. "I saw him play last year and I know he's a heck of a player. It's up to me. I think the team picked me to come in there and go out there and be a team player and fight every day and that's what I'm planning to do. I've always concerned myself with the things I can do and I don't put a whole lot of thinking into (what) other guys are doing because I'm not at my best when I'm not in controll and playing as well as I can."
Brady's reaction also has to come as music to Belichick.
"Who the better players are and what they'll be able to do, I don't really know," he said. "We'll just put them out there and let them play. We've got five preseason games and they'll each get an opportunity to play and we'll see how they perform. That's out of my hands. It'll be decided on the field."
With the exception of the new quarterback, Belichick appeared to concentrate on choosing players to fill obvious needs this weekend.
After landing offensive tackle Adrian Klemm of Hawaii and tailback J.R. Remond of Arizona State in Saturday's second and third rounds, he loaded up on more big players in yesterday's fourth and fifth rounds.
Greg Robinson-Randall, a 6-5, 339-pound right tackle at Michigan State, was the team's fourth-round pick, while Dave Stachelski, a 6-3, 250-pound tight end from Boise State, and Jeff Marriott, a 6-4, 301-pound nose tackle from Missouri, came aboard in the fifth.
Cornerback Melvin "Antwan" Harris of Virginia was the Pats' initial sixth-round pick, after which Brady and David Nugent, a 6-4, 303-pound defensive lineman from Purdue, were landed.
The Pats' traded their initial seventh-round pick to San Francisco for the Niners' sixth-round selection in 2001 before they chose two more free agents, defensive end/linebacker Casey Tisdale of New Mexico and running back Patrick Pass of Georgia.
The draft picks and free agents who'll be added to the roster this week will gather for an orientation weekend here April 28-30. The Pats' training camp at Smithfield's Bryant College will begin in mid-July.