FOXBORO, Mass. — The quarterback and center need to have a strong connection for an offense to be successful. The bond between Tom Brady and David Andrews began forming the day they met.
Andrews, who is preparing to start his second Super Bowl as the Patriots’ center, still remembers his introduction to the superstar quarterback.
“I think even from the beginning, Tom did a great job of making me feel welcomed, I guess,” Andrews said Thursday. “He knew my name the first day I was able to meet him. I was blown away by that as an undrafted rookie — that this guy took the time to learn my name. It’s been a pleasure working with him, as it is a lot of those guys in that room. I think he just does a great job of welcoming guys, and I think it’s become a little bit more comfortable. We’ve worked together for a while now, and it’s been good.”
The feeling is mutual. Brady has raved about Andrews since the center arrived in New England as an undrafted rookie in 2015.
“(Andrews) has done exceptionally well,” Brady said eight weeks into the 2015 season, via ESPN.com. “It’s impressive to be a rookie … when I was a rookie I was the fourth quarterback on the roster. I got to eat nachos before the game, and I wasn’t dressing or active. I just had to bring my playbook to the meeting. That was about as much as I had to do right that year, so for him to come in there and play every snap as an undrafted free agent … I can’t say enough good things about him.”
Andrews started 11 games as a rookie, then beat out Bryan Stork during the 2016 preseason to become the full-time starter. He played nearly every offensive snap during the 2016Â season (99.6 percent), signed a three-year, $9 million contract extension last May, and then started all but two games this season to help the Patriots reach Super Bowl LII.
“It was definitely kind of a blessing in disguise I think,” Andrews said of his arrival in New England. “I didn’t really know what was going on. That was kind of a crazy period, the whole undrafted thing. I wanted the chance to play with the best so I think this was the best organization and has been for a while now. I wanted to be the best and so why not come here and learn from the best?”
Andrews certainly puts Brady in that category.
“He’s, in my opinion, the greatest quarterback to ever play the game of football,” he said.
