Tom Brady is about as highly motivated an athlete as we’ve ever seen. With seven rings on his trophy case, you’d think he’d let things like the 2000 NFL Draft and even last year’s free agency roll off his back, but that isn’t the case according to his Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach.
Clyde Christensen has been with the Bucs since 2019, and worked with Tom Brady for the first time after the team signed him last year. He wasn’t afraid to throw some digs at the legendary quarterback.
Brady didn’t have quite the level of interest as a free agent that many assumed. His 2019 season was a bit down for his lofty standards, and he is in his mid-40s. Ultimately, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers opted to swap him in for Jameis Winston, a decision that resulted in a Super Bowl last season.
During an interview with the Pat McAfee Show, Christensen said that he still uses the fact that the entire league wasn’t banging down his door as motivation. He says that Brady still uses the 2000 NFL Draft, when he famously went No. 199 overall, as motivation as well.
I was so confused on how 28 teams DIDN’T want @TomBrady
“I’ll tease him & just go oh yeah they wanted him over you…
Last year I was teasing that the 49ers took Josh Rosen I go they coulda had you & they took Rosen” ~ #Bucs QB coach Clyde Christensen #PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/v5wlQ8W5ww
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 10, 2021
“I won’t mention the names, but every once in a while I’ll tease about a club and say ‘You know, they wanted him over you,’ the Bucs QB coach said. “He’s funny that way. He’s never gotten over that draft, I think that’s just the way he fuels himself. He keeps it underneath, but don’t think that isn’t boiling inside him. He knows exactly who did and didn’t believe in him, and took someone instead of him.
“It’s interesting. Last year I was teasing him that the 49ers took Josh Rosen. ‘They could’ve had you and they took Josh Rosen.’ There you go. That’s a fact, right?”
The timeline there is a bit skewed, for the sake of the joke there. Rosen was actually with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad in 2020. He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers off of Tampa’s squad in December. Still, the fact that San Francisco, a home-state team for Brady, didn’t look at upgrading from his former Patriots backup Jimmy Garoppolo after he looked very limited in the 2019-20 Super Bowl probably irked Brady all the same. It has been reported that the Niners were one of Brady’s prefered teams.
In retrospect, McAfee is right. The list of teams that should have made a move for Tom Brady is much longer than those who were right in passing on the opportunity to sign the G.O.A.T.
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