The prospects who could succeed Tom Brady echo his words and follow the TB12 method
By now, the story is in the official Patriots canon. When Tom Brady met Robert Kraft in the Foxboro Stadium parking lot after the 2000 NFL draft, Brady told the owner, “I’m the best decision this organization ever made.”
Josh Rosen had just turned three years old when New England selected Brady with the 199th pick. Eighteen years later, the UCLA quarterback echoed the five-time Super Bowl champ.
Sports Illustrated’s Peter King asked Rosen how he would respond if an NFL coach said, “Can I trust you?”
“I would say, ‘I’m going to be the best decision you ever made,’” Rosen answered.
Rosen, projected to be a top-five pick in April, is far from the only quarterback talking Tom at the Combine in Indianapolis. With the Patriots expected to draft a successor to Brady this year, the prospects could end up playing alongside their childhood idol next season.
Washington State quarterback Luke Falk, one of the players linked to the Pats, constantly wore a TB12 hat around campus while dabbling in the Method. His college teammate, offensive lineman Cole Madison, told WEEI’s Ryan Hannable that Falk is obsessed with New England’s No. 12.
“Oh my gosh, don’t get me started with that,” Madison said. “Everything Tom Brady. ‘Tom Brady this, Tom Brady that. Tom Brady does this, so this is what we should do.’ He is ride or die Tom Brady, for sure.”
Falk, who said he was heartbroken after Super Bowl LII, would love to land in Foxborough and soak up knowledge from the man he called the “greatest of all-time, there’s no doubt about it.”
The slot as Brady’s backup opened up when Bill Belichick traded Jimmy Garoppolo to San Francisco for a second-round pick in 2017. Garoppolo obviously took advantage of the opportunity to study Brady up close, as he showed enough promise in five 49ers games to earn a $137.5 million contract. The 2018 prospects would jump at the same chance.
“I’m sure any quarterback here would love to be the understudy to one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time,” Western Kentucky’s Mike White said, per the Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian.
Richmond’s Kyle Laulette agreed.
“That would be a dream come true. I think any quarterback would love to be in that position,” said Lauletta. “Learning from a guy like Tom Brady, you can learn so much just by the way he works and observing the way he goes about his business day to day. Wherever I am, I think I’ll be in a good spot. But that would definitely be a good one.”
Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph wouldn’t turn down the offer, either.
“That’d be obviously pretty darn cool. To learn from one of the best of all time and a football mind like Tom, and to be able to soak some of that knowledge up, some of that wisdom, would be a great opportunity,” Rudolph said.
Logan Woodside, who lost his starting job at Toledo twice before leading the Rockets to their first Mid-American Conference title in 14 years, likened his journey to that of the Michigan product.
“I grew up a huge Tom Brady fan,” Woodside said. “Everything that he went through at Michigan, it was kind of a similar situation to what I had at Toledo, honestly. Nobody really believed in him so he went out there and proved it to them. And he’s still proving it.”
Belichick will have a first-round pick (No. 31) and two second-rounders among the options at his disposal as he tries to find Brady’s replacement. But the 40-year-old isn’t planning on hanging up his cleats any time soon. There’s a reason these prospects still look up to a quarterback who entered the league when they were toddlers.
