Sean Payton and Tom Brady have been in the news a lot lately as rumors swirl over a potential plan for the two to join the Miami Dolphins was allegedly scuttled by the Brian Flores lawsuit. However, it turns out that they almost connected while Payton was an assistant coach with the New York Giants in 2000 and Brady was a prospect in the NFL Draft.
The former New Orleans Saints head coach recently appeared on the Green Light podcast with Chris Long and Payton was discussing some of the players he’s missed out on in drafts over the years, including Tomy Romo, Marshawn Lynch, Malcolm Butler, Ndamukong Suh, and Jadeveon Clowney. Then he told the story of what happened when he was in his first year as offensive coordinator with the Giants and he was asked to grade a Michigan quarterback prospect named Tom Brady.
“All right, so I’m in New York and my agent is Don Yee, and Don also represents Tom Brady,” Payton said. “Don would periodically call me with a client that he just signed, and he said, ‘Hey will you call up Tom Brady? He’s at Michigan and I’ve got him, and just help him out with things that would be important for him at the combine.’”
Payton said he grading the scrappy QB as a late third or early fourth-round player. However, despite his overtures, he wasn’t able to convince the powers-that-be to take a chance on the unheralded prospect.
“We were (scouting) Brady, now this is going around the room and everyone’s seen Tom run the 40 at the combine. Everyone’s seen, you know, you get the body, weigh in pictures, all of that,” Payton said. “So, you have a guy who is not fully developed yet who was pretty much a one-year starter. You could tell that he needs the weight room. But Lloyd Carr (Michigan head coach) said this, I’ll never forget it, he said he’s the toughest player that he’s ever coached. That meant something.”
The Giants ended up drafting players like Ron Dayne, Cornelius Griffin, Brandon Short, and Dhani Jones, so it’s not as though they did a terrible job. Plus, they had Kerry Collins at quarterback, who led them to Super Bowl XXXV in 2000.
Of course, we know what happened with Brady and the New England Patriots soon after that. But like so many others, it remains a fascinating what-if for NFL history.
[Yahoo!, Green Light podcast with Chris Long]
