The stories about Tom Brady’s work ethic and competitiveness continue to trickle out ever since he won his incredible seventh Super Bowl. The latest stories proving the quarterback’s impressiveness comes from Urban Meyer.
Meyer spoke with NBC’s Peter King for a podcast interview. In the interview, King asked Meyer about the coach’s experience visiting NFL teams while he was coaching in college. Meyer said his visits with the New England Patriots stood out — because of Brady. Meyer said (as transcribed by 247Sports):
“Well, Tom Brady — I got to witness Tom Brady, firsthand, and it was the last day of minicamp in June and I had been to a few of those. And usually, people are one foot out the door because they just got done with a very long seven, eight weeks in the offseason and you’re talking about the greatest quarterback of all time. And it was (linebacker) Mike Vrabel was there, (linebacker) Tedy Bruschi was — back in those days — and I was blown away. It was the last day of minicamp. They’re in shorts, helmets, and they’re doing a two-minute drill. And Tom Brady is treating it like it’s the Super Bowl. And he goes down and he scores with two seconds left to win that scrimmage or whatever they had, and ran around that field like a child who just won the Super Bowl. That’s how competitive he is.
“And I went back and immediately to my quarterbacks and shared with them that I just watched the greatest of all time — the way you’re supposed to practice, the way you’re supposed to provide energy to the rest of your team and the way you lead your team. And I was blown away at Tom Brady and the way he performed at practice. And by the way — I went into the offensive meetings with (offensive coordinator) Josh McDaniels and Tom Brady, and Tom Brady’s actually the one that had the clicker in his hand. I mean, Peter, it was amazing. He was in there running the film. And he had the offensive line sitting there, running backs, receivers, and Tom Brady was running the clicker and watching practice film dissecting the plays for the offense.
“You can say he throws a great pass. But people that really understand the game, there’s much more than that that makes him the best of all time.”
Those are great stories. And what’s notable is Brady was doing that several years ago. His leadership style back then has paid off enormously.
If you enjoyed that story, you’ll appreciate what Bucs receiver Chris Godwin said about Brady. You also enjoy what Mike Evans said about Brady.
More must-reads: