The legend of Tom Brady is one that has been told time and time again. He was overlooked coming out of Michigan in the 2000 NFL Draft and was only taken in the sixth round, No. 199 overall. But people might not realize just how aggressively mediocre a prospect he really was.
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Brady’s Wolverines went 20-5 while he was the starter in 1998–1999, but when it came time for the pre-draft process? Whoa, Nelly. Everyone’s seen that average Joe picture from the combine, and everyone knows he ran a slow 40 (though at 5.28, it’s probably even slower than many remember), and his jumping ability was a joke.
Scouts didn’t even believe in his arm — saying it wasn’t strong, he couldn’t drive the ball, and he couldn’t throw a tight spiral. But he didn’t let all of that negativity drag him down. He used it as fuel, as many great athletes who are not born with great physical gifts are forced to do.
We call it “having a chip on your shoulder.” And Brady definitely had one. And not only did he use it to motivate him, in his most recent newsletter, he said he actually viewed it as a “hidden blessing.” Why? Because a lack of physical talent made him work that much harder on all of his other skills.
“I think the chip on the shoulder it gave us has been far more valuable than if we were blessed with all of the great physical attributes, because it forced us to develop those intangible mental and emotional traits that are the difference between good players and great players, and between great players and champions,” penned the former QB.
“They are the traits that produce sustained success beyond the point at which you’ve met your match physically and athletically,” he added.
And if anyone knows about sustained success, it’s the guy who led a dynasty with the New England Patriots from 2001 to 2019 — sometimes by sheer will alone. Brady says having great physical traits can keep players from focusing on the importance of IQ and EQ.
Those are the intangibles that often drive true success. The fact that these young, gifted athletes don’t realize they can build on their talent frustrates TB12 to no end.
“If you’ve been able to do it all with ease since you could walk, where’s the motivation to become a better tape watcher or to understand yourself and how you deal with your emotions? Where’s the need, even? Eighteen-year-olds—especially boys—are some of the dumbest people on the planet,” Brady said before continuing,
“If they can’t see the need to add something to their game because they’re already the best in their district or their state, you’re not getting through to them usually until it’s too late and their bad habits are ingrained and hard-wired.”
The seven-time Super Bowl champ made an interesting argument here. He said that if you go to any small city or college and ask about the greatest athlete from there, you’re likely to hear about a freak of nature that never made it to the big time. This is especially common with street ballers who dominate at public parks, like the Rucker in New York, but were never able to put it all together to find a path to the big leagues.
“This is the curse of giftedness, which shines a light on the blessing of physical limitations. Physical limitations guarantee a degree of failure that provides untold opportunities to deal with adversity, to manage stress and disappointment, and to grow as a result. And everyone is different.”
There’s no arguing with Brady on this one. He has the results to prove his method works. Though we will say, while having the physical limitations he did can be overcome by IQ and EQ, that’s only really true if you’re a QB.
Guys like Peyton Manning and Patrick Mahomes, and Dan Marino weren’t great athletes, but quarterbacks haven’t needed to be until recently. And let’s not forget Brady was 6’4″ and 210, so he wasn’t at a total disadvantage.
In this newsletter, Brady is comparing his intangibles to those of recent Patriots Hall of Fame honoree and former teammate Julian Edelman. While Edelman certainly shared Brady’s intangibles and that chip-on-the-shoulder attitude, he also had some physical gifts.
He was only 5’10”, which isn’t ideal, but not a deal-breaker for a wideout. But he was fast, running a 4.52 in the 40-yard dash. He was quick, posting a 3.92 shuttle time that would’ve led the Combine that year if he’d been invited. He could also jump out of the gym with a 36.5-inch vertical and a 10-foot, 3-inch broad jump that outpaced most top receivers in that class.
Tom Brady is certainly right: it’s better to have the intangibles. But for most positions in most sports, you’ve got to have some sort of physical gifts to go along with that to make it to the top.
No one would have cared about Edelman’s mental strength if he weren’t one of the quickest players in the draft. It’s the marriage of mental and physical that makes someone really special. Wouldn’t you agree?
