Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and New York Giants legend Eli Manning are among the noteworthy members of the NFL community who recently argued in favor of teams immediately starting rookie signal-callers selected via high draft picks.
It appears Tom Brady disagrees with such individuals regarding the topic.
“I think it’s just a tragedy that we’re forcing these rookies to play early, but the reality is the only reason why we are is because we’ve dumbed the game down, which has allowed them to play,” Brady said during a recent appearance on “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” as shared by Brendon Kleen of Awful Announcing.
Brady entered the NFL when the New England Patriots famously made him the 199th pick of the 2000 draft, and he spent nearly all of his rookie season as a backup behind Drew Bledsoe before the future Hall of Famer was thrust into action the following campaign.
While Manning, Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens are other examples of signal-callers who benefited from learning about life in the NFL as first-year QB2s, icons such as Peyton Manning eventually thrived after being named Week 1 rookie starters.
“It used to be thought of at a higher level,” Brady continued. “We used to spend hours and hours in the offseason, in training camp, trying to be a little bit better the next year. But I think what happens is it discourages the coaches from going to deep levels because they realize the players don’t have the opportunity to go to a deep level. So they’re just going to teach them where they’re at.”
Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears and Jayden Daniels of the Washington Commanders, the first two choices of this year’s draft, will open their debut pro regular seasons atop depth charts. The Patriots may sit Drake Maye, the third pick of the 2024 draft, through at least a portion of the fall, while most think the Denver Broncos will have Bo Nix (pick No. 12) start in Week 1.
There’s no perfect science to developing rookie quarterbacks, and the subject sparks disagreements among analysts and former players alike each summer.
“Five years (at Michigan), I got to learn how to drop-back pass, to read defenses, to read coverages, to be coached,” Brady added about what he experienced before he ever took a snap with the Patriots. “To deal with winning games, to deal with playing in Columbus, Ohio, in front of 110,000 people. I had to learn from being seventh QB on the depth chart to moving up to third to ultimately being a starter. I had to learn all those things in college, that was development.”
If nothing else, Brady’s latest comments offered a preview of what he’ll be when he begins working as Fox’s new lead in-game NFL analyst next month.
