Who Were the 6 QBs Taken Before Tom Brady in the 2000 Draft and How Did They Do in the NFL?
While it will forever be argued whether or not Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time, it certainly can’t be debated that TB12 is the winningest NFL quarterback in history. Whether it’s his seven Super Bowl rings, six with the New England Patriots and another with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his 251 regular-season victories, or the 35 postseason triumphs, numbers are numbers.
And speaking of numbers, Brady put up some pretty solid stats during his 23-year NFL career. In 335 regular-season games, the three-time MVP completed 64.3% of his passes for 89,214 yards with 649 touchdowns, adding another 13,400 yards and 88 TD passes in 48 postseason appearances.
Now, given these incredible figures, Brady is easily the biggest steal in history as the Michigan alum was famously taken by Bill Belichick in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft with the 199th overall selection.
The five-time Super Bowl MVP was the seventh signal-caller taken that week, which begs the question: Who were the six quarterbacks taken before Tom Brady in the 2000 NFL Draft, and how did their careers play out?
Who were the six quarterbacks taken before Tom Brady, and how did they do in the NFL?
The group of quarterbacks available in the 2000 NFL Draft wasn’t viewed as an overly strong one, as evidenced by the fact that the first signal-caller off the board was Marshall’s Chad Pennington, who went to the New York Jets at No. 18 overall. Pennington was also the only QB taken in the first round.
Before Tom Brady was selected at No. 199, the next five chosen after Pennington were Hofstra’s Giovanni Carmazzi (Round 3, No. 65, San Francisco 49ers), Louisville’s Chris Redman (Round 3, No. 75, Baltimore Ravens), Tennessee’s Tee Martin (Round 5, No. 163, Pittsburgh Steelers), West Virginia’s Marc Bulger (Round 6, No. 168, New Orleans Saints), and Southwest Texas State’s Spergon Wynn (Round 6, No. 183, Cleveland Browns).
Of the six, only Pennington, Bulger, and Redman started more than 10 NFL games. Wynn started only three times. Martin appeared in only three games but never started. And Carmazzi, despite being on the Niners’ roster for two seasons, never made an appearance outside the preseason.
| QB | Games | Starts | Record | Cmp% | Yds | TD | INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chad Pennington | 95 | 87 | 46-41 | 65.6 | 19,241 | 110 | 72 |
| Giovanni Carmazzi | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Chris Redman | 30 | 12 | 4-8 | 57.2 | 3,179 | 21 | 14 |
| Tee Martin | 3 | 0 | 0-0 | 37.5 | 69 | 0 | 1 |
| Marc Bulger | 99 | 98 | 42-56 | 62.0 | 23,758 | 126 | 98 |
| Spergon Wynn | 10 | 3 | 0-3 | 46.1 | 585 | 1 | 7 |
So as you can see, TB12 was far superior to the six quarterbacks taken ahead of him in the 2000 NFL Draft — whether going one by one or comparing him to all six combined.
However, Tom Brady isn’t the only member of this group with a Super Bowl ring. As Chris Redman appeared in a pair of games for the Baltimore Ravens as a rookie in 2000, he got himself a little hardware.
