Malcolm Mitchell was one of the few rookie receivers who figured out how to earn Tom Brady’s trust. Mitchell seemed to understand the Patriots offense and Brady’s way of doing things. And perhaps that was due, in part, to Mitchell’s profound respect for the quarterback.
The receiver called Brady “brilliant” during an appearance on NBC Sports Boston’s “The Michael Holley Podcast.”
“What makes him so different is his commitment,” Mitchell said of Brady in a recent interview. “Most people see sport as, ‘Oh, this is something you do.’ I think Tom has transcended that into something completely different, as in, ‘No, this is a way of life.’ There is no offseason because this is me 24/7 every day of the year. I don’t know another example of that that I’ve met personally.”
In his first NFL season, Mitchell finished with 32 receptions, 401 yards and four touchdowns despite playing through knee pain. In Super Bowl LI, he also had six receptions for 70 yards, with five coming in the fourth quarter during the remarkable 25-point comeback.
He didn’t play another game while dealing with endless knee issues that led to an endless string of surgeries. Even if his time in New England was much shorter than he would have liked, he still felt like he learned a lot about life from Bill Belichick.
“Accountability,” Mitchell said of what Belichick taught him in New England. “There are things I don’t think he realized he was doing for me as an individual … The level of accountability that he enforces is — it makes you grow as an individual. You don’t have a choice.”
