In April 2000 the New England Patriots took Tom Brady out of Michigan in the sixth round, 199th overall. Six other quarterbacks had gone before him. Fleer, filling out a 400-card set, put him on a card he shares with another New England draft pick.
Number 352 is a Rookies to Watch card with two players on it: Brady and Dave Stachelski, a tight end from Boise State the Patriots had taken in the fifth round, 141st overall, a round before Brady.
The card is split on a diagonal. Stachelski's portrait sits in the upper left and Brady's, in a red jersey with the number 12, in the lower right, and between them runs a black band with ROOKIES TO WATCH and a large gold PATRIOTS.
Stachelski never played a game for New England. He appeared in nine NFL games, all for the Saints. Brady played in one game for the Patriots that season, on Thanksgiving in Detroit, and then in twenty-two more seasons after it.
Two Patriots rookies to watch. One played nine NFL games, all of them for New Orleans.
The card was printed in quantity and was worth very little to anyone in 2000, which is part of its appeal now. A Glossy parallel exists, and a one-of-one version was made for the 2001 National.
