Tom Brady's NFL Combine highlights: 40 time, bench press, old scouting reports & more

Tadd Haislop

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Tom Brady's NFL Combine highlights: 40 time, bench press, old scouting reports & more image

In the first NFL Combine of the 21st century, the player who would become the greatest quarterback of all time made his Hall of Fame-caliber future evident with a combine performance for the ages.

This is what every NFL team not named the Patriots wishes it could say about its glimpse of Tom Brady a couple months before the 2000 NFL Draft.

We all know by now the opposite occurred. Thanks in part to Brady's Combine showing being received as average at best, nobody saw a record seven Super Bowl rings in his future. Brady famously slipped to the Patriots in the sixth round of the draft, at No. 199 overall. Only one of the six QBs picked ahead of the Michigan product (Marc Bulger, No. 168 by Saints) appeared in a Pro Bowl.

Brady's story now serves as an annual reminder to NFL Draft prospects who don't test off the charts that their potential is not defined by a 40-yard dash, a vertical leap, a Wonderlic test score or anything else from the Combine.

And yes, provided the context of the Patriots and Buccaneers legend's unprecedented success in the NFL, his Combine performance from 2000 can be viewed as a comedic masterpiece.

MORE: Tom Brady's best NFL moments and records, from draft pick No. 199 to the GOAT

Below are the highlights (if one can call them that) and stats from Brady's notoriously ho-hum workout in Indianapolis.

Tom Brady Combine: The picture

The photo makes the rounds on social media every late February and early March when NFL fans turn their collective attention to the Combine.

Brady, shirtless, looking ... not like a future Hall of Fame football player.

Brady has dealt with the viral nature of the photo for years, but he now cherishes the picture with good reason.

"It’s actually a great thing for me to see because it reminds me of where I started,” Brady said during the NFL 100 All-Time Team finale in 2019, via NESN. “We all have our story, and I started at a place where I always felt like I was looking up at everybody. I was looking up at everybody in high school and then college and certainly when I started in the pros.

"Through a lot of help and a lot of support, I just learned and I kept trying to get a little bit better and a little bit better and keep growing and keep evolving. I still feel like I’m trying to do that today."

Tom Brady's 40-yard dash time

Brady ran a 5.28-second 40-yard dash, the second slowest time among QBs at the 2000 NFL Combine. Only Louisville's Chris Redman (5.37) was slower.

The fact that Brady's straight-line speed was and is irrelevant doesn't take away from the delight one experiences watching him sprint awkwardly in his floppy white tee.

It's worth noting that Brady evidently was faster in 2019 than he was in 2000. In July, he was timed running a 40-yard dash in 5.17 seconds.

Five years later, Brady once again managed to beat his younger self in a 40-yard dash, as shown by a simulcam video he shared to X (formerly Twitter).

Must be the TB12 stuff.

MORE: Ranking Tom Brady's 10 Super Bowls from worst to best

Tom Brady's bench press & other stats

With the exception of the 20-yard shuttle, a drill in which Brady randomly posted a decent time, the QB's Combine results made him seem as unathletic as the video did.

One measurement that worked in Brady's favor was his height; at 6-4, he and Michigan State's Bill Burke were the tallest QBs in Indianapolis that week.

Below are all of Brady's stats from the 2000 NFL Combine, including the results of his workout and his measurements (via NFLCombineResults.com).

  • Workout results
Drill Time/measurement Percentile among QBs
40-yard dash 5.28 seconds 0.7
Bench press N/A N/A
Vertical 24.5 inches 2.9
Broad jump N/A N/A
20-yard shuttle 4.38 seconds 45.3
60-yard shuttle N/A N/A
  • Measurements
Dimension Brady's measurement
Height 76.4 inches
Weight 211 pounds
BMI 26.03
Arm length 32.75 inches
Hand size 9.38 inches

MORE: All-time NFL Combine records

As for the throwing drills, Brady performed as well as a QB can when throwing to random wide receivers against no coverage or pressure.

Below are the NFL's complete highlights from Brady's Combine performance, including some of those throwing drills.

Tom Brady's Wonderlic score

Brady scored a 33 out of a possible 50 on the Wonderlic test at the 2000 NFL Combine, a solid number considering the average score for the Wonderlic is 20.

Only one player, punter Pat McInally in 1975, has scored a perfect 50 on the Wonderlic test at the Combine. The high mark for quarterbacks, who average a 25.9 based on data from wonderlictestsample.com, is held by Ryan Fitzpatrick, who scored a 48.

Of course, as Sporting News wrote in 2016, the Wonderlic test is a good cognitive measure for anything but football.

"I can basically tell you, from what we see, it’s a huge waste of time and money," University of Louisville business school professor Frank Kuzmits told SN.

That's part of the reason that the NFL's focus has shifted away from the Wonderlic and more toward the S2 cognition test in recent years. However, that test came under scrutiny after C.J. Stroud posted a Rookie of the Year campaign in 2023 despite posting a low score on the assessment.

MORE WONDERLIC:
Highest, lowest test scores in Combine history

Tom Brady scouting reports

Brady himself is a recent source of some of the language used in the scouting reports that knocked his abilities ahead of the 2000 NFL Draft.

In an Instagam post from several years ago, the QB recollected the negatives and used them to encourage those who were participating in the 2017 NFL Combine.

"Poor build ... Skinny ... Lacks great physical stature and strength ... Lacks mobility and ability to avoid the rush ... Lacks a really strong arm ... Can’t drive the ball downfield ... Does not throw a really tight spiral ... System-type player who can get exposed if forced to ad lib ... Gets knocked down easily."

Below are a few more recollections of how Brady was viewed as the 2000 NFL Draft approached:

— “I don’t like him. Smart guy. That’s it.” — Anonymous NFC scout (via The Athletic)

— "I always thought you should look at any senior who is starting; maybe they have something. You watch four, five, six plays, and if they don't show anything you leave them off the list. I watched Brady, and he was actually pretty good. He was very careful with his passes, very accurate, no interceptions. I wondered if his arm would be strong enough. If you saw him — and he was listed that day at 6-5, 195 pounds — he didn't look good. He looked kind of emaciated, with no muscle definition. ... "I put him on the list and figured, it can't hurt. Let's give him a grade and at least we can talk about him. Turns out nobody else (with the Giants) had his name down. I gave Brady a middle-to-late-round grade, and when I was in the draft room I guess I got drowned out. Whoever heard of Tom Brady?" — Giants scout Whitey Walsh (via ESPN)

— "He had that great bowl game but I think he’s just very common. He’s a bony, very thin kind of guy. God, you can see his ribs on his build. His arm is just adequate. That bowl game against Alabama, he was just unconscious. Other than that, I didn’t like him. One thing he doesn’t do is force a lot of balls. He competed and hung in there." — Anonymous NFC scout (via The Athletic)

— “Very accurate, good toughness, good leadership. Has a chance to be a good player in the league in time. I think he’d be a real solid backup initially and end up growing into a starter.” — Bears director of college scouting Bill Rees (via The Athletic)

— "Brady needs to work on reading blitzes and elaborate defenses. Like Brian Griese and Scott Dreisbach, his Michigan quarterback predecessors, he could use long-term training with a team that already features a prominent running game and a talented, veteran receiving corps — similar to Brady's situation at Michigan with Anthony Thomas and Marcus Knight. Projected as a third-round pick, Brady is likely to wear the headset of a backup at first. He knows it will require a lot of patience before he will fit into an NFL team's scheme." — Sporting News

— “Interesting, interesting guy. He looks like one of them poles you hang coats on. He’s got big knobs on his shoulders. But this guy is a very good deep passer. He’s highly competitive. He can’t run worth a lick but he has enough where he can step out of the way of people.” — Lions vice president of player personnel Ron Hughes (via The Athletic)

— "I understand the players wanted (Brady) to play (over Drew Henson in 1998 and '99). Brady handled it excellently. He was one of the captains, and had to display that. He’s got a lot of character about him. ... I’ve seen him escape people. He’s not going to scramble around and light you up that way but he’s got a little feel to him … he has had some excellent games. He got sacked six times against Penn State and they won the game." — Anonymous AFC scout (via The Athletic)

— "I was a big advocate of Tom Brady's. He looked like he belonged. He was comfortable in the pocket. He had good delivery mechanics. The knock on him was that he was slow-footed, but he played the game faster than he ran. He just stood tall in the pocket, scanned the field well, made his progressions from one receiver to the next. He looked like a team leader on the field, a decision-maker, and his ability to get the guys around him to play hard jumped off the tape. I wasn't brilliant enough to put a first-round grade on Brady. I think I put a second- or third-round grade on him. I really liked him." — Ravens offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh (via ABC News)

— “Outstanding leader. Priest-like personality. Calm, wise and thoughtful. He’s accepting of what comes his way. Doesn’t appear to be dynamic. Has a calming demeanor. Well-liked, class kid. Has work ethic. Respected by his teammates. Two supportive parents who attend every game." — Anonymous NFC scout (via The Athletic)

Go figure: The person who nailed the scouting report on Brady ahead of the 2000 NFL Draft was Brady himself: "I think my best asset as a player is that in the fourth quarter, with the game on the line, I have the desire to win and the feeling that our team is not going to lose.

Tadd Haislop

Tadd Haislop is the Associate NFL Editor at SportingNews.com.