Tom Brady was 36 years old when the Patriots selected 22-year-old Jimmy Garoppolo with the 62nd overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. And based on what Brady expressed in Tuesday’s episode of “Man in the Arena,” it doesn’t seem like he was thrilled with coach Bill Belichick’s explanation behind the decision.
“We drafted Jimmy and I just thought, like every other time, you embrace them, they’re you’re teammate,” Brady said. “Now, we drafted Jimmy higher. Coach Belichick referenced my age to me, referenced it to the media. In my mind, I was thinking, ‘What are you talking about?’”
Brady, who at that point had won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, was entering his 15th season. And while he still had plenty left in the tank, it appeared Belichick was already pondering life post-Brady.
“I think he was just referencing, well, not many quarterbacks have ever played and been successful late in their career, and that’s just a fact. Of course, for me, I was just like, I don’t care about any of those things,” he said.
Brady, though, felt that he was at an age when everything was starting to come together, both personally and professionally.
“From the team standpoint, again, you’re always looking to, ‘What’s going to happen if Tom retires, what’s going to happen if Tom isn’t the player he is?’” Brady said. “I never thought about those things ’cause I didn’t think of myself aging in a traditional way. I was really beginning to understand how to take care of myself. I was really beginning to understand the game, how to study, how to be more efficient. I was really beginning to understand how to train, how to communicate more with my teammates.
“Things are maturing in my life. My boys [sons Jack and Benjamin] are getting a little bit older when they’re starting to be self-dependent. My daughter [Vivian] was born December 2012, so she’s getting a little bit older. “We built a home and got it finished in 2014 like this is where we’re gonna be.”
Despite a slow start to the 2014 season, not to mention questions about Brady’s play and the future, the Patriots reached the Super Bowl stage again in February 2015. Brady won his fourth championship with New England after a thrilling 28-24 win over the Seahawks.
“A 10-year journey to reach back to the top. It just speaks, I think, what our team and organization was all about which was the ultimate physical and mental toughness and ignoring the noise,” Brady said. “It had encompassed everything that I had experienced and wanted to achieve again.”
While Brady went on to win two more Super Bowls with the Patriots, his assumed successor, Garoppolo, was traded to the 49ers in October 2017. He is currently their starter despite his future in San Francisco being something of a question mark.
Brady, meanwhile, is now chasing his second Super Bowl ring as a member of the Buccaneers.