Michael David Smith ,
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Tom Brady had to wait until the 199th pick to hear his name called in the 2000 NFL draft. A quarter-century later, Brady thinks the draft is overhyped, and what really matters is what players do after the draft.
Brady, who is now both a minority owner of the Raiders and the No. 1 game analyst for Fox, said on the Rushmore on X podcast that he thinks the good teams are the ones that develop players well, not the ones that draft well.
“It’s one thing to draft them,” Brady said. “Then you’ve got to develop. More important to me is develop. We had I think the most overrated weekend of the NFL calendar, the NFL draft. Because 95 percent of these guys won’t make meaningful contributions in their first year. Most of these guys will make meaningful contributions in the 2026 season.”
Brady said every player drafted, whether first overall or 199th overall, should be asking himself how he’s going to make himself better starting on the day after the draft.
“What do you do on Day 2?” Brady said. “How am I going to prepare myself?”
Brady knows first-hand that it’s what a player does after he’s drafted that matters.
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