Even though he’s won seven Super Bowls, three MVP awards, and a slew of Pro Bowl nominations and conference titles, Tom Brady will always be the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL Draft. His unlikely rise to the top of the football world has become the reference point for every underdog on draft day and is routinely brought up when discussing the best picks in NFL Draft history.
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In fact, some, such as the NFL Hall of Famer, Cris Carter, believe that Brady’s presence ultimately improved the quality of New England’s draft picks. In referencing Brady’s ability to get the absolute most out of any player, Carter suggested that “There’s a lot of great draft picks because of Tom Brady.”
During the most recent episode of their Fully Loaded podcast, Carter’s co-host, Shawn Meaike, echoed that sentiment, noting that “They are out there still talking, Edelman, all of them, because of Brady.” While Brady may be responsible for the careers of Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, Carter did feel the need to suggest that Rob Gronkowski was different from the rest of them.
“Gronk was amazing. He was not like the other New England players. He was against the grain. He was like, ‘I’m getting ready to punch you in your face and I’ll get in trouble with Belichick every once in a while, but I’m okay with that.’ I love how he handled his business.”
While Brady and Gronk’s relationship has since become one of the most iconic QB-TE connections in NFL history, the two didn’t always get along. In a past episode of his Dudes on Dudes podcast, the future Hall of Fame pass catcher admitted that “I didn’t really like [Brady] my rookie year.”
“I ran a flag route and I ran inside the guy, instead of getting outside of him, and [Brady] flipped out on me in the meeting after practice. He told me he was never going to throw me the ball again.”
Thankfully, for everyone in New England, the two of them figured it out. In the 163 total games that they played together, Gronkowski recorded 718 catches for 10,664 receiving yards and 108 touchdowns.
For the sake of comparison, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce have played in a total of 109 games together. Despite essentially having the same amount of opportunities as Gronk and Brady, their connection only managed to produce 686 catches, which have been good for 8,126 receiving yards and 56 touchdowns so far.
Most career TD by a QB/TE combo in NFL regular season history:
1. Tom Brady/Rob Gronkowski (90)
2. Philip Rivers/Antonio Gates (89)
3. Drew Brees/Jimmy Graham (53)
4. Drew Bledsoe/Ben Coates (45)
5. Peyton Manning/Dallas Clark (44)pic.twitter.com/zSiJQDrpFK— Pro Sports Outlook (@PSO_Sports) June 22, 2022
As a QB-TE tandem, Gronk and Brady are simply unrivaled. They hold the record for most touchdowns by any QB-TE duo in both the regular season (90) and the playoffs (14) and, of course, have plenty of hardware to show for it.
In a day and age where a slide in the NFL Draft can make national headlines for multiple, consecutive weeks, their careers serve as a reminder that it’s not about where or even how you start, but rather, how you finish.
