The 2000 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15–16, 2000, at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. No teams chose to claim any players in the supplemental draft that year.
Linebacker Brian Urlacher
Sebastian Janikowski, the first kicker selected in the first round of the draft since 1966
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The Patriots play home games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Boston. The franchise is owned by Robert Kraft, who purchased the team in 1994. As of 2023, the Patriots are tied for the third most valuable sports team in the world and have sold out every home game since 1994.
The Patriots were named after the colonists who rebelled against British control during the Revolutionary War, which was locally relevant due to the colony of Massachusetts playing a pivotal role in American independence. (Image: Minute Man statue in Concord, Massachusetts)
QB Tom Brady and HC Bill Belichick were the pillars of the Patriots dynasty throughout the 2000s and 2010s. During that period (2001–2019), they led the Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances, winning six, as well as accumulating numerous franchise and league records. Brady is widely regarded as the greatest QB of all time, with Belichick widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches of all time. Together, they are universally known as one of the greatest QB-HC tandems of all time.
TE Rob Gronkowski, widely regarded as one of the greatest TEs of all time, was a staple of the 2010s offenses. Nicknamed "Gronk", he holds many franchise and league records, including an NFL-record most total and receiving touchdowns by a tight end in a single season (18 total, 17 receiving), as well as most receiving touchdowns (79) in Patriots history.