We heard last month that Jarrett Stidham, a fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft, is in the driver’s seat to open the 2020 season as the Patriots’ starting QB. But we also heard that New England was all but certain to select a rookie passer in this year’s draft in either the first round or with a mid-round choice, and that did not happen.
The Pats had the opportunity to select Utah State QB Jordan Love with the No. 23 overall pick, but they shipped that selection to the Chargers. They also had multiple chances to select passers like Jacob Eason and Jake Fromm, but they instead chose to address their defense and their thin TE depth chart.
So one of the big winners on draft night was Stidham, whom many believe is better than Love and the other QBs in this year’s class outside of the consensus top-three. Still, the fact that New England completely avoided the quarterback position until it agreed to sign UDFA J’Mar Smith came as a surprise to many, and head coach Bill Belichick was asked about the team’s approach in that regard.
“If we feel like we find the right situation, we’ll certainly draft [quarterbacks],” Belichick said (via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com). “We’ve drafted them in multiple years, multiple points in the draft. Didn’t work out the last three days. That wasn’t by design. We just tried to do the best we could with what we had this weekend.”
Belichick stopped short of anointing Stidham the starter, however. “Jarrett had a good year last year,” the legendary HC said. “He improved a lot. We’ll see where that takes him.”
Per Reiss, Belichick also expressed confidence in veteran Brian Hoyer, who may be more suited to start at least the early stages of the 2020 season if Stidham is unable to get the necessary training camp reps due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The club could theoretically pursue a player like Cam Newton or Andy Dalton, but rumors connecting those two to Foxborough have generally been shot down.
Another speculative fit, Jameis Winston, came off the board earlier today.
BB wil prevail. Always does. You can already see Brady is trying to one up the GM and coach. Demanded AB & Gronk. Those simply aren’t the QB’s decisions.
Agreed
Give me proof he demanded it.
From CNNSI on AB: According to reports, teams that pursued quarterback Tom Brady in free agency were reportedly “under the impression” that Brady wanted to reunite with free agent wide receiver Antonio Brown. It appears that Brady and Brown became close despite only playing together for one game last season before the New England Patriots released Brown.
You do realize there is a difference between “according to reports”—which aren’t named—and facts, right?
Tom was pushing for NE to resign AB last year. link to heavy.com
Google Tom Brady wanting to play with AB on either team and you’ll get a ton of responses from ‘various sources’. Literally every sports site has articles on it. Can’t all be BS can it?
big difference between wanting and demanding
Prevail at what? Tampa and New England aren’t going to play. The Pats are relying on Hoyer or a Stidham and mediocre weapons on offense. They will be lucky to go 9-7
Better record. Wins are what it’s all about. NE is in an easier division, & has the best coach of all time.
A better record doesn’t matter. Its whatever gets you in the playoffs. The rest of the AFC east is getting better and Buffalo id currently better than NE. Tampa was a good team last year with a human turnover at QB. They are going to be a serious contender.
The AFC isn’t getting better, sorry. Jets will be the Jets meaning sub 500. Miami has a 39 year old QB that throws picks & one w/ a bad hip. Frankly, the Bills QB isn’t very accurate.
You are beyond clueless. The Bills are already playoff team and added a top WR (what the Pats have been scared to death of doing). They were close to NE last year alone. The Dolphins 39 year old QB torched the pats last year and derailed their season. And besides imagine thinking he is their QB of the future. Miami was supposed to win 1 game at most last year and they were awfully competitive as the season went on. They had a great draft and have a ton of picks in the next draft as well. They will be better than New England by 2022. The Jets won 7 games last year while having 4th string QBs for a chunk of the season. They have a lot of young talented players too and will be a contender shortly. If the Pats mediocre play at the end of last season wasn’t telling of how their time is up, nothing will. Their defense will keep them in games but that offense is a flat out joke. Bill can fawn over a 4th round pick and Hoyer at QB all he wants. Reality is tough and he is about to find out getting a QB in the NFL aint so easy.
We’ll see. I do like your sentence ‘They will be better than New England by 2022.’ Its 2020 man.
2018 feels like just yesterday. Its not that far away.
It amazes me that this still has to be spelled out for people. The “Belichick” will find a way crowd love to ignore how bad the offense is, especially now that Brady is gone. I don’t see the Patriots being much better than 4-12 next year
They went 11-5 last year and were 5-1 in the division. The year before they won the SB. But keep saying how great the rest of the East is.
I’m not a Pats fan at all. But I admire what they have done this century and not throwing the towel in on them right now. Sorry too many division titles and SB’s to ignore.
You can admire them all you want. Their previous super bowls have zero impact on the 2020 roster. Super Bowl teams miss the playoffs the following year constantly so that argument they wona title 2 years ago is nonsense. Stidham looked pedestrian and Hoyer is mediocre. ‘Bill will find a way” sure keep telling yourself that. He couldn’t do anything with that terrible offensive roster last year and he refuses to add impact talent. How did N’Keal Harry work out for him? That dude will be lucky to be in the NFL for his whole rookie contract. Bill has treated the WR and TE position like the ugly red headed stepchild and thats the last thing to do with a new QB. It will be a miracle if they score more than 17 points a game.
You can use imaginary rosters, coaching staffs and front offices in 2022, but I can’t use last years staff, & majority of the same players?
Its not imaginary that all those teams have their QB’s of the future and other solid young players. The Pats had the best TE in football during their Superbowl runs. They had the best QB of all time. Their WR and TE group is horrendous now. If you look at the Pats depth chart on offense and tell me with a straight face they are still the best team in the division you are flat out lying to yourself. Bill was willing to give up a 2nd round pick for Sanu but not a 1st for Diggs LOL. Bill flat out can’t help his roster at those positions.
We’re not talking Madden. You, myself, and everyone else has no idea of next year’s rosters will look like, let alone 2 years from now. I get it you hate the Pats. Many other do as well, it’s called jealously.
If you truly believe Gase, Flores, and McDermott are better than Bill; so be it. Gase is will be gone, Flores bombed on both Rosen and M Fitz (all pro on rookie contract) & McD gave up 4 times as many picks for a #1 as did the Cards for a much better WR in D Hopkins. They are simply outclassed in intelligence of the game, and roster management.
You can’t win a SB every year, but 15+ straight division titles tells me enough.
Pick up your joy stick and dream.
You’re comments just get more and more ridiculous. McDermotte and Flores are great coaches and they are not their teams GM so judging trades on them is extremely dumb. Bill literally traded his actual QB of the future Garoppolo for a 2nd round pick who he used to draft mega bust Duke Dawson. He also had another solid QB who he traded for Phillip Dorsett another failed attempt at getting WR help. Those are some grade traded by Bill…..“Bill will prevail because he is Bill”. Yeah sorry I judge the rosters, not some nonsensical idea of Bills glamor. In 2020 which is now, the Pats have a mediocre roster on the offensive side. Buccaneers have 3 extremely good TEs while the pats have 0. They have 2 elite WRs while Bill flounders to fill that hole. The Bucs are 100 percent going to be a better team that New England next season. You can put all your chips on Stidham and Hoyer LOL.
@Afk711 You wrote: “Bill literally traded his actual QB of the future Garoppolo for a 2nd round pick who he used to draft mega bust Duke Dawson.”
Belichick would have preferred to trade Brady for a first and third round pick and kept Garoppolo. You can hang the decision to trade Garoppolo instead on Robert Kraft. This year I believe Belichick made Kraft choose: forty two year old Brady or me. This time Kraft made the right decision.
Tank you very much.
Pat’s are in rebuild while their fans are in denial
Yep
If Stidham doesn’t make it, someone else will be cutting a capable quarterback whom Belichick can employ on the cheap. Bill’s a discount shopper and a very good one. You just have to look at his clothes and haircut to recognise his ability.
Has he ever prevailed without Tom Brady?
JJB do not be foolish. Brady made no demands on the Bucs … nice try … you just pissed off he bailed on NE because of BB.
Oh and what has BB won without Brady? How has he “prevailed” … wow its over for you amd NE. BB, is now exposed.
Always good to draft a kicker who supports an alt-right militia group instead.
Patriots aren’t alt right. Alt right aren’t militias. Militias are constitutional
Define alt right for me. You can’t because it’s a media invention to distract from the fact that those on the “right” care more about freedom, and those on the left have turned into authoritarians pretending to care about the people. Alt right… Don’t make me laugh
Zzzzzz
The Anti-Defamation League states that “alt-right” is a “vague term actually encompass[ing] a range of people on the extreme right who reject mainstream conservatism in favor of forms of conservatism that embrace implicit or explicit racism or white supremacy”.
Who cares what the ADL says? It’s always been a foreign propaganda service, determined to bully Americans into subservience to foreign interests.
Riiight
Lol, like he’s the first kid to get a regrettable tattoo. How do you think I ended up with an Ace of Bass tat on my ass? Drunk in the Navy…shit happens man.
Wait, wait….really?
I second that. Really?
You got the tattoo of a neo-Nazi band tattooed on your ass while serving in the US Armed forces and it’s misspelled?
Just start a rumor – Bears trade Trubinsky to Pats for a third round pick in 2021.
Always good to post a douche bag comment about something you clearly don’t understand.
With the right cheats, Bill can turn any schlub into a franchise QB.
lets not get ahead of yourself. since we havent seen him coach a QB other than brady in over 15 years
Do Matt Cassel and Jimmy G ring a bell?
talking went into a full season coaching someone not name brady. not a player who was the back up and played here and there. i forgot about cassel i give you that
Brisset?
I can’t remember who Brisset had but Cassell had a stacked offense there and that’s why he fell flat on his face everywhere else
No he can’t.
They really have no cap space to sign a free agent QB this year. They’re going with Stidham and Hoyer.
To all those people who still think Belichick is nothing without Brady, in his 20 years in New England Tom Brady missed 21 games in those games the New England Patriots were 15-6
They win the super bowl the year Brady got hurt? Cassel went 10-5 but don’t recall a super bowl
Sure, they didn’t win. Regardless, there aren’t many coaches in the league that could take a backup QB to 10-5
Good coach. Terrible roster infront of him.
The division is weak yet so are the Pats.
That offense was crazy good that year though. Try Cassel with these scrubs
Bills became better, Dolphins became better, even the Jets had a competent draft.
Bills win the division this year.
Pats entire off-season has been a total tank for Trevor Lawrence. Mark it down.
They’re not getting Trevor Lawrence.
Redskins didn’t take a QB. They’re seeing what they have in Haskins.
They’ll be favorite to land #1 overall.
Jaguars are in the same boat. They’re seeing what they have in Minshew. They could very well be #2 overall next year.
Patriots have one of the worst rosters and had the worst draft.
Based on the defensive roster and the upgraded roster of the offense and better coaching, the Redskins aren’t anywhere near the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes unless Haskins falls flat on his face. Even then, with Kyle Allen standing in the wings I don’t see how the Redskins don’t win at least five games in 2020.
No rumor of a disgruntled Aaron Rodgers joining the Patriots? Mike Florio must be taking the weekend off.
Without #12 pats win AFC East, lol, Buffalo and Miami will be on suicide watch!
Patriots will go 0-6 to start the 2020 season and will end up 6-10.