2019 NFL Draft: What top quarterbacks are saying about Tom Brady

Many of the top quarterbacks in the 2019 NFL Draft class had opinions to share regarding Tom Brady and the future of the New England Patriots.

It stands to reason that many of the brightest quarterback prospects of tomorrow would look up to the gold standard of quarterbacks today. So when several prominent members of the 2019 NFL Draft class of quarterbacks were asked about Tom Brady, they didn’t shy away from speaking their minds and opening up about what he and the New England Patriots mean to them.

Likely first-round pick Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State was told during an interview with Sports Illustrated that former QB and current analyst Trent Dilfer compared him favorably to Tom Brady, calling the young Buckeye “the most like Tom Brady of anyone we’ve had.” Haskins was flattered by the comparison… and he also seemed to embrace it head-on.

"“From the neck up, I feel like I’m a lot like Tom Brady,” Haskins said in the interview. “From how I study, to all the time I commit to get ready for the game, to how I read defenses, to how I pick up protections and to how I operate with my guys. And that’s just a great comparison for me because I want to be like Tom Brady. He’s one of the best quarterbacks of all time, if not the best. Just to be able to be in the same sentence and be Tom Brady-ish is pretty cool to me.”"

Missouri’s Drew Lock, another one of the quarterbacks in the 2019 NFL Draft class expected to go in the first two rounds, was asked by Patriots.com NFL columnist Don Banks how he’d feel if New England drafted him to be Brady’s successor. While Lock acknowledged he’d certainly have big shoes to fill, he also said sitting and learning behind one of the best ever would be “an ideal situation” for any young signal-caller.

"“I’d 100 percent rather go 32nd to the right team than No. 1 to a bad team,’’ Lock told Banks in an interview. “If that happened (being drafted by the Patriots), I’d be honored for sure. Tom’s obviously there for a couple more years, but to be able to sit behind a guy like that and learn from one of the best quarterbacks of all time – if not the best – I think that’s an ideal situation for any quarterback.”"

Duke’s Daniel Jones also lavished praise on Brady, calling him “one of the best ever” and admitting to Banks in a separate interview that it would be “an awesome opportunity” to watch and learn from TB12 on a daily basis if he were drafted by Bill Belichick and brought into New England.

"“That’d be a special opportunity that you couldn’t get anywhere else,” Jones raved. “I think I’d relish it. Coming into a situation like that you’d need someone who’s confident in himself and someone who doesn’t feel the need to be someone else, and I think I’d personally be a perfect fit for that.’’"

Jones’ quote is interesting because it acknowledges openly that whoever does end up getting drafted by the Patriots to one day take Brady’s mantle will forever be compared to the G.O.A.T. himself. Perhaps wisely, the Duke quarterback points out that it would be important for Brady’s heir to exude confidence while not trying too hard to be a carbon-copy of Brady. According to Jones, the smarter play is just to be yourself… smart advice from someone so young.

It’s still no guarantee that New England will select a quarterback tonight in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft – or for that matter, that they’ll select a QB anywhere in this draft at all. The team has indicated it plans on signing Brady to a contract extension sometime around training camp, and Tom Terrific has previously indicated time and time again that he plans on playing for at least two to three more years.

Behind him, the Patriots still have Brian Hoyer as their top backup and Danny Etling as their third-string quarterback. It’s not the deepest or most impressive QB depth chart in the NFL, but (knock on wood), Brady has proven himself very durable and injury-averse over the course of his 20-year career in the league.

Hopefully, if the Pats do decide to draft a quarterback of the future that they like, he won’t need to see any significant or relevant game action until at least 2021 or 2022 (at the earliest).