Here’s How Patriots ‘Screwed The Jets’ To Draft Franchise Legend

The Patriots brought in an all-time franchise great at the expense of their fiercest rival right as they kicked off their dynasty.

Former New England director of player personnel Scott Pioli was the latest guest on Julian Edelman's "Games With Names" podcast and shared the "awesome" story about how the Patriots drafted Matt Light. After finding out the New York Jets wanted to take Light with the 49th overall pick in the 2001 draft, Pioli and company pulled some strings to prevent the pact.

"How we screwed the Jets? Epic," Pioli told Edelman. "The Jets are picking right before us. I called Matt and said, 'You hearing from anybody right now?' And he goes, 'Oh, yeah. As a matter of fact, I had to click over. I was on with the Jets. They're picking me when they come up.' I said, 'Matt, here we go. Hang up but don't tell the Jets who just called. Say someone else just called in. Wrong number, whatever. Don't tell the Jets I just called.'

"I hang up. I look at Bill (Belichick) and said, 'The Jets pick right before us.' So we start calling everybody before that. Not getting any action. I call my boy Matt Millen at the Lions who's one pick ahead of the Jets. We want to move up. He says, 'Yeah, our guy just went. Give us a ham sandwich.' Sure enough, we make the trade. Right as the Lions went on the clock, I call Matt Light and said, 'Matt, they still got you on hold?' He's like, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Well, screw them. We just traded up. You're a New England Patriot.'"

Slighting the Jets was sweet in itself, but making an extra effort to draft Light proved to be a shrewd move by the Patriots. He protected Tom Brady's blindside for a decade and helped New England win its first three Super Bowl champions.

Light's significant contributions to the franchise were recognized in 2018 when he was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.