The arrival of Jimmy Garoppolo came as little surprise to Tom Brady.
The longtime Patriots signal-caller knew New England would eventually mine the draft for a potential heir apparent.
"I felt like I had a pretty good idea we'd take a quarterback," Brady recently told The MMQB.com's Peter King. "Coach (Bill) Belichick doesn't care who the quarterback is here. He's always going to play the guy who he thinks gives him the best chance to win."
At 36, Brady's starting role is rooted in security, but he makes a fair point about Belichick's history of unemotional decision-making at the quarterback position.
This is the same coach who traded away Drew Bledsoe to the Buffalo Bills and -- during a topsy-turvy stint in Cleveland -- blindsided the city by releasing local hero Bernie Kosar in favor of Vinny Testaverde.
"There's no entitlement in the NFL," Brady said. "I don't expect to be given anything. I just hope I'm the one most entitled to play that position for a long time here."
Brady plans to play into his 40s and would have no problem keeping Garoppolo as anonymous as phantom backup Ryan Mallett, pointing out to King: "This is not the first time they've taken another quarterback."
"I want to play a long time," he said. "There's nothing I like doing that's close to football. What'll I do when I'm done playing? I don't know, but I know it won't be nearly as fun. I can tell you neither me nor Peyton (Manning) will probably be very far from the game of football when we're done."
The latest "Around The League Podcast" predicts 2014 starting lineups and talks insider goodness with Bucky Brooks.
