What the draft order records
The official draft list places six quarterbacks ahead of Tom Brady and records New England selecting six other players before taking him at No. 199. That order shows that Brady was not treated as an obvious franchise player—not even by the team that ultimately chose him.
An outlier revealed slowly
Brady went on to win seven Super Bowls and set major career passing records. Those results make every earlier pass look simple only after the fact; they do not establish that teams possessed enough evidence in 2000 to forecast an unprecedented career from a sixth-round choice.