Ranking Bill Belichick's best NFL Draft picks 

3. Richard Seymour – 2001 (Round 1 Pick 6)

Belichick selected Seymour to set the defensive culture in New England

Richard Seymour going sixth overall is the highest the Patriots have ever drafted since Bill Belichick took over as head coach.

Seymour would set the tone for the defense the former Cleveland Browns head coach was trying to assemble.

He wanted clever athletes who were tough and could give the team an advantage at certain key positions.

Seymour was a lightning quick defensive tackle and could get to the quarterback almost like an outside linebacker.

He went to the Pro Bowl seven times and won three Super Bowls in New England.

It was an eight-season career for Seymour in New England before Belichick decided there were cheaper alternatives available and traded him to the Oakland Raiders.

In that time, he was able to amass almost 40 sacks and is a full member of the Patriots’ Hall of Fame, with his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame coming in 2022.

2. Rob Gronkowski – 2010 (Round 2 Pick 42)

Gronkowski was the tight end Belichick always wanted

Gronkowski was a first-round talent who missed his entire junior year at Arizona due to back surgery.

At such a physical position like tight end, NFL teams were scared off and he slid into the second-round… but not Belichick.

His inner radar for value kicked in and he selected Gronkowski with the 42nd pick of the 2010 NFL Draft.

Yet another Hall of Fame career followed, with Gronkowski becoming the first ever tight end to lead the league in receiving touchdowns back in the 2011 season.

He has won four Super Bowls and been to the Pro Bowl five times, while he has the most career touchdowns in the playoffs for a tight end.

Gronkowski may have left New England under a cloud before coming out of retirement to play in Tampa Bay, but he benefited greatly from the environment the former Bill Parcells-student has cultivated in Foxboro.

We’ll never see another tight end like Gronkowski, one with the build and physicality of a lineman but with the playmaking skills of a receiver.

Furthermore, it’s only due to the presence of a complete anomaly in the form of a certain #12, that Gronkowski can’t be considered Bill Belichick’s greatest ever draft pick.

1. Tom Brady – 2000 (Round 6 Pick 199)

Tom, you're going to need the other hand

Tom Brady will retire as the most decorated player to ever play in the NFL, whilst he will also retire as the player many consider to be the greatest to ever play in the league.

His career started all the way back at the turn of the millennium as a lowly-regarded sixth-round draft selection, who had impressed the coach with his ability to play in front of sizable crowds at Michigan.

A draft steal would be an understatement to describe Belichick’s capture of Brady… history will describe it as more of a draft day heist.

Tom Brady won six Super Bowl championships in New England, the one constant throughout all of Belichick’s success with the Patriots, and he has been the MVP of the Super Bowl five times.

A three-time NFL MVP award winner, Brady has been to the Pro Bowl 15 times since taking over as the starting quarterback in his second professional season.

This pick was once again a result of the New England coach seeing a sort of intangible talent in a player and getting him in the building before anyone else could polish the diamond.

You can’t necessarily put down the success of the New England Patriots solely down to either one of Brady or Belichick, but working in tandem there wasn’t a more formidable partnership.

Brady is still playing to this day, coming out of a very brief retirement to return to Tampa, but the man with almost every QB record in the book made his name in New England.

A chance was taken on him, the coach gave him the opportunity to succeed and Brady subsequently ran with it.

This single draft pick turned the Patriots into the dynasty we now see them as, whilst it has to go down as Belichick’s greatest ever draft success story, once again showing the best finds aren’t necessarily the most obvious.