Tom Brady Shared His Thoughts on Sitting Rookie QBs Their First Year In NFL

erikthredd

I was going to post this in Steve's Brady Make A Wish thread but thought it deserved its own one instead. Tom sat down with Stephen A Smith at last weekend's Fanatics Fest for an hour long in-depth interview and he had some interesting thoughts on today's NFL and how rookie QBs are handled.
(Here's the entire interview below, skip to around the 38min mark to start that segment I mentioned above.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2APw3py6iE

Here are some of his quotes taken from a BR article.
"I think it's just a tragedy that we're forcing these rookies to play early, but the reality is the only reason why we are is because we've dumbed the game down, which has allowed them to play," he said during a discussion with ESPN's Stephen A. Smith (40-minute mark) that ran on Monday.

"It used to be thought of at a higher level. We used to spend hours and hours in the offseason, in training camp, trying to be a little bit better the next year. But I think what happens is it discourages the coaches from going to deep levels, because they realize the players don't have the opportunity to go to a deep level. So they're just going to teach them where they're at."

"Five years (at Michigan), I got to learn how to dropback pass, to read defenses, to read coverages, to be coached," he said. "To deal with winning games, to deal with playing in Columbus, Ohio, in front of 110,000 people. I had to learn from being seventh QB on the depth chart to moving up to third to ultimately being a starter. I had to learn all those things in college. That was development."
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10132478-tom-brady-says-the-nfl-has-dumbed-the-game-down-to-help-rookie-qbs-play-immediately

perkdog

Very interesting to take all this in

erikthredd

@perkdog said:
Very interesting to take all this in

I can't speak for how the NFL has been dumbing down the game for rookie QBs but I do agree with Brady about sitting QBs in year one to develop them. The three best QBs drafted since the year 2000 (Brady,Rodgers & Mahomes) all sat their first year in the NFL and it definitely paid off both for the player and organization.

craig44

while i am chomping at the bit to see Maye start, my brain is telling me that him sitting and learning would be the best case scenario.

erikthredd

I am too but forget where Maye currently is on his developmental timeline, just looking at their Oline as a whole should be reason enough to have him holding a clipboard once the season starts. Sorry Jacoby, that Oline is a work in progress so we're going to let you feel the affects of that by naming you starter lol.

Basebal21

Even the teaching stuff aside it just makes sense to sit them for a year. Theres a reason why the team had the top 5 to 10 pick in the first place and either the team isnt good or drastically overpaid to trade up. It makes sense to get an extra draft in to fix more problems instead of breaking a rookie QBs confidence and having the fans turn on him because he was set up to fail.

Williams is an exception to this simply because the Bears werent a bad team, got super lucky with Allen, and the Panthers drastically overpaid to trade up giving them the first pick. This is a very unique situation where the team picking first is ready to go already

perkdog

@erikthredd said:

@perkdog said:
Very interesting to take all this in

I can't speak for how the NFL has been dumbing down the game for rookie QBs but I do agree with Brady about sitting QBs in year one to develop them. The three best QBs drafted since the year 2000 (Brady,Rodgers & Mahomes) all sat their first year in the NFL and it definitely paid off both for the player and organization.

But then you got CJ Stroud acting like a boss out there so you never really know but overall I am ok with sitting a rookie QB

erikthredd

Perk, That is true but for every Stroud there are a large number of QBs thrown in early that didn't pan out. It really depends on each individual situation, for Stroud, his was one where there were pieces in place to help him succeed. Collins/Schultz/Singletary were a very good WR/TE/RB trio, Tunsil is one of the better left tackles and as Pats fans we know how good Shaq Mason is/was when in NE.

Caleb Williams is walking into a similar situation as Stroud, as far as pieces in place to help him be successful. With Maye, its the opposite.

(best overall outcome for us Pats fans,imo, would be to see the team improve on their win total by 2-3 wins, be able to see Maye's improvement throughout the season and still end up with draft picks high enough in each round to be in position to draft one of the more talented left tackles & wide receivers.)

perkdog

@erikthredd said:
Perk, That is true but for every Stroud there are a large number of QBs thrown in early that didn't pan out. It really depends on each individual situation, for Stroud, his was one where there were pieces in place to help him succeed. Collins/Schultz/Singletary were a very good WR/TE/RB trio, Tunsil is one of the better left tackles and as Pats fans we know how good Shaq Mason is/was when in NE.

Caleb Williams is walking into a similar situation as Stroud, as far as pieces in place to help him be successful. With Maye, its the opposite.

(best overall outcome for us Pats fans,imo, would be to see the team improve on their win total by 2-3 wins, be able to see Maye's improvement throughout the season and still end up with draft picks high enough in each round to be in position to draft one of the more talented left tackles & wide receivers.)

Agree on all points for sure

GroceryRackPack

I say:
Get out there and play football...🏈🏈🏈

Ya might not get as much knowledge sitting there on the sidelines having ice water..🥤🥤🥤 and watching re-plays on your tablet...🖥️🖥️🖥️

having a ice water...🥤🥤🥤and watching re-plays on the tablet..🖥️🖥️🖥️ Is My Job...😀😀😀

Now Rookie Get Out There And Play...🏈🏈🏈

Take The Ball To The Land Of 6..🏈🏈🏈

coolstanley

I disagree with Brady's opinions because the college game is totally different today than when he played in the 90's. Today you have coach's transferring all the time. For example Lincoln Riley has been a head coach in 3 different conferences just in the last 4 years.

stevek

Follow the money and you'll find the answer.

NFL owners pay huge money to these first round picks, and want them out there on the playing field. Not sitting there on the sidelines all game.

Besides, all things being equal, usually a very high pick QB is going to be drafted by a lousy team, with possible attendance problems. The owners want these new players out there to bring fans to the stadium, and hopefully generate excitement in the team...resulting in more revenue coming in.

Chances are the lousy team also had a lousy QB the previous season. So the new high draft pick QB is probably if not already better than the loser veteran QB anyway.

Brady was a 6th round pick and Kraft didn't have all that much money invested in him. In that situation, an owner doesn't mind if the QB sits for a season or two.

perkdog

It's a safer bet to sit your rookie QB overall but everyone is different

From David Carr to CJ Stroud there are plenty of examples, mostly of failures though

erikthredd

@coolstanley said:
I disagree with Brady's opinions because the college game is totally different today than when he played in the 90's. Today you have coach's transferring all the time. For example Lincoln Riley has been a head coach in 3 different conferences just in the last 4 years.

Did you actually listen to everything he said about the college game? What I posted from his quotes was all that I could find online that was in print form, he said considerably more than that about the college game and player development.
He actually pointed out that the players are doing the very same thing that you're telling us about coaches, his point was the players aren't getting a continuous football education, each time they leave for a new (or better, in their mind) situation, they're basically starting over from scratch.

Every coach and every system has their own way of doings things and if that is constantly changing, like your Riley reference, then that is actually worse than just a player switching colleges. Riley's decision to leave two other teams just forced those two entire football programs to start over. You say that you're disagreeing with Brady's opinions there but you're actually saying the same thing, just pointing at the coaches not players.