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The stuff in the middle is extrapolation on your part. They had enough cap space to bring in a free agent QB and chose not to. Stidham could very easily have been Plan A this year. They didn’t even try to bring Brady back. Yet in your mind they were forced into this situation and had no plan.
I disagree on the cap space. There isn’t a clear path to make what would be needed to sign someone like Teddy B, without decimating another area of the team. Time will tell.
But if we assume they knew it was Brady’s last year wouldn’t they have wanted to draft as much talent that could help them win with him? If they loved Stidham why wait until the end of Round 4 when some one else could have beat them to him.
I am repeating myself, but they had the cap space. Instead of going after a FA QB, they used the cap space to franchise a guard for almost $15 million and resign a safety to a $13.5 million a year deal. They could very easily have found cheaper options at those positions as free agents or in the draft. Everyone knows you can’t win without a QB. If things were as dire as people in here are making it, then NE certainly would have opted to go for a free agent QB instead of doing what they did. They were FORCED to play Matt Cassel the year Brady got hurt. They are CHOOSING to go with Stidham with Brady leaving. Big difference. They still could make a splash in the draft, but that would be surprising.
As far as the first part of this post . . . which member of the Boston sports media are you? Because this is the same rhetoric that has been on the Boston airwaves for years. People wanted NE to jump up to the top of the draft, make a big trade, or sign a big name free agent.
WTF? You’re not even making any sense. Where did I say any of that?
I was referring to trying to bringing in the most talent they could at QB. The media here still is relentless in saying the cupboards are bare and everyday they outline all the things they should have done. Whether that be by draft, trade, or free agency. Not sure how I have been all over the place. I have said the same things about six times now.
1- Why do GMs make the moves they make? Perhaps they had Stidham graded as a 1st round prospect and knew they could get him later. I won't pretend to know that answer. I don't believe GMs are reactionary... at least the good ones like BB. Why did they wait? it could have been because they knew they could. Why get a guy round 3 you're willing to gamble will be there round 4. certainly we all can relate to fantasy drafts; being high on someone and knowing you can get him a round or 2 later. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. IMO it worked out for the Pats. I think Stidham was high on their board. A bunch of circumstantial stuff to back that up, so not fact, but it's my opinion.
The NFL draft is nothing like a fantasy football draft - especially when it comes to QBs. Teams don’t play games. I’m not saying they didn’t like Stidham as a prospect and it’s clear they like him now - but I just don’t think their grand plan was that Stidham was the guy they sought out to replace Brady. It has since worked out that way it seems, and there’s nothing to lose by testing it out and waiting for cap relief to come. I’m sure Belichick thinks he can win with Stidham, and I wouldn’t bet against him, but there’s a wide range of possibilities as to what happens this year and next.
No one is saying they need to draft a qb. I am saying that Stidham has almost no game experience and didn’t look great in the handful of passes he threw. I’ll even go a step further and say Hoyer could even win the job over him.
And you should get grief when you say stuff like that and continue to dump on Brady when you know PFF had him ranked 10th overall (in other words he wasn't nearly as bad as you keep trying to claim he was). Are u really saying you feel Stidham is already a top 10 QB? Based on what? Teammates pumping his tires?
Which do you think is more important? The few snaps he played at the end of a blowout? Or the countless snaps he took across OTAs, training camp, and regular season practice?
BB seemed ready to move on from Brady in 2017. Why would it be that crazy to think BB would not have considered it last year? Brady was banged up. Over the second half of the season, the OL was excellent. Some plays he had 8 seconds to throw, so it’s not like he was under constant duress.
I do not believe that Hoyer will beat out Stidham this year, but what happened last year is mostly meaningless.Anarchy99 said:
Surprised to see Daniel Jones low at 11, and Haskins high at 4. Otherwise the list looks legit.
I am sure the list would vary from team to team based on style of play. Murray might be high on the Cardinals list but lower down on the Patriots. Similarly, Stidham could be high on NE's list but not so high on many other teams. As an example, McDaniels traded up for Tebow when he was in DEN. BB may have told Josh to keep his comments to himself on moving up to draft a mobile QB in the future. (To be fair, if BB thought it could help them win he would do it . . . just not sure how in love he is with the thought of a non-traditional pocket passer.)
Agreed, Belichick is looking for Brady light, while McDaniels would be more open to a mobile QB like Kyler or Lamar.
I really think you are missing the point with what many people are saying...usually when a lower-round pick with little to no track record wins the job they have beaten out someone projected to be ahead of them...Brady/Bledsoe, Romo/Bedsoe, Wilson/Flynn, Minshew/Foles, Cousins/RG3, Lock/Flacco, Prescott/Romo are all examples off of the top of my head and many happened in-season ...Stidham is different (Jimmy G is a little similar in San Fran but he looked very good during Brady's suspension) because when you look at it from a big picture you have a complete unknown (who was not drafted high like a Mahomes) as far any actually NFL game experience taking over for the greatest QB in NFL history without any competition (at least right now)...this is a pretty unique situation and I think it makes perfect since for many to have their doubts...the x-factor is it is BB doing this and because of this there is a comfort-level (at least with Patriot fans) that it will work out.
Because generally speaking late round QBs are wasted picks.
Good post.
Any sane person would take the UNDER on whomever replaced Brady in terms of career outlook when trying to be held to Brady’s success. Is Stidham more unproven then most replacement QBs? Clearly yes. My point in listing off who else in the league teams have as starters was to show that not every team has a top five pick at QB. Go read any article or mock draft involving NE and their main knocks on Stidham are his lack of first round pedigree and his Pick 6 against the Jets. Because if that, many drafts have NE moving up to draft a QB and sending off a boatload if picks and some players to get one. Others have them staying put and taking a QB (usually a player that probably won’t make it to them).
I am not far off in any of the opinions expressed in this thread. If things work out this year for NE, Stidham would be middle of the road, he shows some promise, they get some new guys in there with potential, and the defense remains solid. I already said they on paper would be an 8-8 team but with better coaching they could net 9 or 10 wins.
Well the good news for you is that Rapport is almost always wrong about everything he "reports".
He 's a 34 year-old (mostly) career back-up who has been cut twice in less then a year and one was by the Patriots.
Come on man they're not going to have the worst record in the league, that's ridiculous. Who cares that he was cut.
This is the key point in all of this. We live in a world of probabilities and possibilities. I fully expect BB has doubts about Stidham and he is fully aware of the plenitude of possible outcomes. The current QB situation in NE does not mean BB is closed to other possibilities. We can be certain of one thing, the risk of rolling with Stidham in 2020 has thus far been preferable to all other opportunities (given the context at the time those opportunities were not taken with no benefit of hindsight).
Comparing 1st rounders to 2nd+ rounders doesn't work the way you're doing it. The populations don't match up. There's about 6 times as many qbs selected in rounds 2-7.
I did not bring up the hit rate percentages. First round drafted QBs probably work out 40-50% of the time. I would approximate that gets sliced in half by each subsequent round. But teams still find playable QBs from various points in the draft.
On the surface, that looks like a mixed bag, but for many, many years they weren't even looking to draft a starter. They had Brady almost that entire time and were usually only in the QB market for a backup. They got more than they invested in Cassel (who made the playoffs and a Pro Bowl with KC). Garoppolo looked the part in NE and has done well in SF so far. Brissett ended up starting in IND (although that certainly was not the Colts plan).
BB is the best tactician the NFL has seen, that's offense and defense. It's amazing what he's done over the years with his personnel. But he's overrated as a rookie evaluator, just look at the receivers he's drafted. He's more rumpelstiltskin than nostradomus. Like@Boston points out above, looks like BB's track record with drafting QBs is about the same as the rest of the NFL. Most of them doing significantly worse when they left New England.Anarchy99 said:
I did but wasn't convinced.
I think there’s something to be said for the fact that they were able to draft these guys and let them sit and learn as well. Stidham has the opportunity to be a good qb, and is likely a lot better than most people give him credit for. I agree he’s worth taking a look at. I just disagree on how they got here, especially with your comparison to Mahomes/smith.
We are debating whether Stidham will be competent starting QB in the NFL. Sorry, but 5 out 11 of BB's selections do not fit this description.
By your numbers, there’s better than a 50% chance he becomes a competent starter. That’s pretty solid chance considering all those guys were drafted to be backups, this guy actually gets a starting job, so I feel like those chances go up even more. How many of those draft picks never played because TB didn’t miss time? Not to mention one of those guys is also an nfl coach now, not that it really matters for the conversation. You can argue that of the qbs that actually got starts the only bust is Ryan mallet. The random 6/7th rounders thst never made it out of camp never had an opportunity.
Those aren't my numbers. I got 1 of them being a competent starter, and the jury is still a little out on Jimmy G. But I'll give it to you. So that's 1/11 or less than 10%.
People really don’t fully understand how drafting actually plays out. The huge majority of draft picks don’t pan out. The majority of QBs never stick in the league and many that do become career backups.
