Jacoby Brissett opens up about trade, why he didn't want Patriots to draft him

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Who wouldn't want to get drafted by Bill Belichick and the perennial NFL powerhouse New England Patriots?

Their 2016 third-round draft pick, apparently.

During an appearance Sunday night on the "Double Coverage" podcast with Patriots defensive backs Jason and Devin McCourty, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett admitted he wanted no part of joining the Patriots entering the 2016 NFL Draft.

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"I honestly did not want to be there,” Brissett said. “When I took my visit there — my pre-draft visit — I was like, ‘Hell no. If one team drafts me, it better not be them.'

"And I’ll never forget, (offensive coordinator) Josh (McDaniels) called me on the phone on draft night and I didn’t have his number saved. That’s how bad it was. I didn’t even have his number saved in my phone. I was like, ‘Damn, man.' "

The Patriots had both Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo at the time, so you can imagine why Brissett wasn't thrilled about being a third-string QB.

The NC State product quickly warmed up to New England, however.

"Then I get there -- everyone’s like, ‘Man, it’s New England’  -- and then you just meet some of the dudes on the team like you," Brissett told Devin McCourty. "That’s when (Terrence Knighton) was on the team and Anthony Johnson and Martellus (Bennett) and it was just fun, man. I’ve never been around so many older dudes that were so young, you know?"

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Brissett's Patriots tenure was short-lived, as the team traded him to the Indianapolis Colts in September 2017 for wide receiver Phillip Dorsett. The 27-year-old QB admittedly was shocked by the move at the time and shared more detail about the day of his trade Sunday.

"It was after my last preseason game, and the bad thing was I balled (in that game)," Brissett said. "I was like, 'I know I'm making the team. It's going to be really hard for them to cut me.' 

" ... I think Bill did some shady s---. I think they traded me right before practice and still made me go out and practice. ... I just remember I was walking back into the facility from the field, and it just seemed like that was the first time the facility was -- there was no activity going on. It just seemed silent. ... I'm walking down the hall, and everybody's staring at me like I just committed a crime or something.

" ... And then I'm looking at my locker and Tom is just sitting there with his head in his phone and I'm like, 'Damn, I hope that ain't about me.' It was just crazy, man. My body was just frozen."

Brissett was on a flight to Indianapolis later that night and wound up playing in the Colts' season opener one week later. Welcome to the NFL, kid.

"Honestly, that was my wake-up to the NFL, was being traded and then the next week, you're out there in a game," Brissett added. "It was like, 'We don't care how long you've been here. You'd better know how to play."

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