Ex-49ers HC Steve Mariucci Explains Not Drafting Tom Brady: He Wasn't Ready Yet

Steve Mariucci will never live down the 2000 NFL draft.

The NFL Network analyst and former NFL head coach defended his decision to pass on Tom Brady, who fell to the sixth round (No. 199 overall) before being taken by the New England Patriots:

"You know what? Here's what happened," Mariucci, who was the San Francisco 49ers head coach at the time, said. "We tried to play, we wanted to play football like we did with Steve Young. ... And we wanted to have that athletic quarterback who could run around and do those things. ... Tom was in a different category."

Mariucci added that Brady "wasn't ready yet" and was a "late-round kind of guy" coming out of Michigan.

Brady posted earlier Thursday he has not forgotten the six quarterbacks teams selected before him 20 years ago:

It's safe to say the 42-year-old future Hall of Famer has gotten the last laugh:

Brady became a free agent for the first time in his career and signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last month.