Former Riders QB Jesse Kaye, famed for scouting Tom Brady, dead at 79

A former Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback who nearly changed the course of NFL history has passed away at the age of 79.

Jesse Kaye served as the Riders’ backup quarterback behind Hall of Famer Ron Lancaster in 1967, losing the 55th Grey Cup as a rookie. He saw action in five games, completing five-of-25 passes for 77 yards and two interceptions.

The University of Tampa product later spent time with the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings, alongside stops in the Continental Football League, Central States Football League, and World Football League. However, Kaye’s greatest legacy was as an NFL scout, spending nearly 30 years working with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, and New York Jets.

Kaye has earned a folkloric status in football circles due to his actions as the Jets’ Midwest area scout ahead of the 2000 NFL Draft. The Green Bay native distinguished himself by placing a high grade on an unheralded University of Michigan quarterback who hadn’t been a full-time starter the year previous: Tom Brady.

Even though the Jets drafted Marshall quarterback Chad Pennington with the 18th overall pick in that year’s draft, Kaye reportedly pounded the table for the team to double down and select Brady on Day 2. While then-director of football operations Bill Parcells has publicly disputed that story, multiple people in the Jets’ war room that day have since confirmed Kaye’s advocacy for the Wolverines’ pivot.

Brady was eventually drafted with the 199th overall pick in the sixth round by the New England Patriots. He retired in February after 23 seasons in the NFL with the Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, earning widespread recognition as the greatest quarterback in NFL history.

The three-time NFL Most Valuable Player holds the record for most all-time pass attempts (12,050), completions (7,753), yards (89,214), touchdowns (649), and quarterback wins (251). He won seven Super Bowls and took home MVP honours five times in the big game.

Pennington had a respectable NFL career, throwing for 17,823 yards, 102 touchdowns and 64 interceptions in 11 seasons with the Jets and Dolphins. However, the Jets have struggled to find an elite franchise quarterback in the years since his selection, while Brady dominated their division for two decades.

Routinely benched in favour of Drew Henson in college, few NFL scouts were able to look past Brady’s unconventional circumstances and poor athletic measurables to see the intangible traits that made him a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. Kaye was the exception and the fortunes of a beleaguered Jets franchise might have flipped by listening to him.

Perhaps he saw flashes of the Little General while watching the GOAT.

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