"I was behind guys who were total specimens" - Tom Brady recalls being overlooked at the NFL combine

Tom Brady reflected on his NFL scouting combine journey and subsequent draft selection. The seven-time Super Bowl champion has one of the most well-known underdog stories in NFL history, as he wasn't considered a top prospect from the beginning and had to work hard to become the greatest quarterback ever.

In his latest newsletter, Brady offered words of encouragement to prospects, saying they are "more than a number." He mentioned 199, the pick with which he was selected in the 2000 NFL draft, several times.

"People can push you to be better, but you are your only true competition. Mindset matters more than anything. Numbers are valuable, but never as valuable as your intangible qualities," Brady wrote.

"My draft story is well known. I didn’t project well coming out of Michigan. Physically, I was behind the guys who were total specimens."

Brady said he first confronted his draft position mentally on Day 2 when the Cleveland Browns picked Spergon Wynn with the 183rd selection, recalling how he thought he and his team were better and he should have been chosen before him.

Wynn was the sixth quarterback selected in the draft following Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Tee Martin and Marc Bulger.

Brady added that just when his NFL dream seemed to be coming to an end, he received a surprising phone call.

"By the time we got back to our front door, I’d made peace with the fact that this might be it. I gave football everything I had, but now it was time to move on."

"There wasn’t an NFL training camp in my future, only training for a sales position at a local insurance company. I could be good at that, I decided. I could build a happy life from there. Then the phone rang, and five minutes later I became pick 199."

The rest, as they say, is history. Brady formed a terrific tandem with Bill Belichick, reaching nine Super Bowls together and winning six. He says that how his career started didn’t matter, as he spent 23 years striving to play at the highest level while improving every aspect of his game.

Revisiting Tom Brady's combine numbers

Tom Brady acknowledged his physical limitations, saying he couldn't run, jump or throw like other players in his draft class. Though he worked with a coach to improve his speed and strength, he didn’t stand out at the combine.

• 40-yard dash: 5.28 seconds
• Vertical jump: 24.5 inches
• Three-cone drill: 4.38 seconds
• Arm length: 32.75 inches
• Hand size: 9.38 inches

Expectations for Brady were anything but high, but he found motivation in the players drafted ahead of him and made sure to give the Patriots — and later, the Buccaneers — everything he had.