There was a reason the Patriots kept a fourth quarterback on the roster in 2000, behind Drew Bledsoe, John Friesz and Michael Bishop. And it wasn’t because Bill Belichick, in his first year, thought Tom Brady would become Tom Brady.
It was because Brady was doing all he could just to become a pro football player.
Charlie Weis, that team’s offensive coordinator, can recall Brady enlisting the camp-fodder receivers, backs and tight ends, guys destined for, at best, the practice squad to stay after practices that summer. The gangly sixth-round pick from Michigan would basically run them through the work that had just finished a second time, so he could get the reps that the coaches couldn’t yet afford to give him or the others staying late with him.
