With the 2020 NFL Draft now behind us it was clear Bill Belichick decided to not go shopping for a new starting quarterback. The Patriots who had 10 opportunities to draft a quarterback passed on every option available to them.
“If we feel like we find the right situation, we’ll certainly draft them,” Belichick said, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “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.”
For now, Jarrett Stidham appears to be the heir apparent to Tom Brady. Stidham who should be able to beat out Brian Hoyer appears to be next in line to start in 2020. Look, with Belichick, nothing is guaranteed.
“Jarrett had a good year last year,” Belichick said. “He improved a lot. We’ll see where that takes him.”
Opinion
Clearly Belichick didn’t see anyone worth drafting after the big-name quarterbacks came off the board. Sure he could have taken a chance with Jacob Eason or Jake Fromm who were both still on the board late in the third round. Heck Fromm was even still available in the 5th round, but he took the Marshall placekicker Justin Rohrwasser with the 159th pick – that should tell you everything you need to know about how Belichick feels about Fromm.
With Cam Newton and Andy Dalton still available Belichick still has options in free agency but probably won’t make a move unless there is a State-Farm Discount Double Check available for Newton or Dalton. Paying a ton of money for a free-agent is generally not the Patriot way.
For now, it appears Belichick will ride with Stidham which might not be such a bad thing. Stidham who was drafted by the Patriots late in the 4th round of the 2019 draft has had a year to observe the GOAT in action.
Stidham has decent arm strength, he tends to make good decisions, and the ball comes out of his hands’ fast with above-average accuracy.
Belichick is probably thinking that if he can sprinkle some Tom Brady pixel dust on Stidham he will be able to turn the kid into a pro-bowl quarterback. Don’t forget what the quarterback whisper did for Matt Cassel’s career back in 2008.
The bottom line is Belichick is going to turn Stidham into something no one else would even consider touching. That is assuming Stidham can actually make it to Week 1 as the starter.
