The Patriots Need to Embrace Their Future, Jarrett Stidham
Tom Brady is turning 43 years old, and has been a New England Patriot for 20 years. In the 2019 season, there was a significant drop off in his statistics. While part of that drop off is due to the weak wide-receiver group, Brady’s accuracy, arm strength, and ability to move have all deteriorated.
Brady’s best chance at another Super Bowl is with the Patriots, but moving on from the Brady-era gives the Patriots their best chance to continue winning.
With an abundance of free-agent QBs, who is the best fit to replace Tom Brady? Here are 3 of the QBs that fit the best with the Patriots for 2020 and beyond.
1. Jarrett Stidham
Should Brady leave the Patriots, Stidham is the most obvious replacement. Stidham will go into the 2020 NFL season as a 2nd year player who spent all of last season watching and learning from Brady.
Stidham is a 4th round draft pick out of Auburn, and has shown some ability demonstrated by his place at #2 on the depth chart. As a junior at Auburn, Stidham had a 60.7 completion percentage, for 2794 yards on 224 completions. He finished that season with 18 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. In his preseason performances for the Patriots, Stidham averaged 182.8 yards per game on an average of 22.5 attempts per game. He finished the preseason with 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. His Quarterback Rating (QBR) was 102.6 for those four performances.
This is a small sample size to make a decision, but Jarrett Stidham knows the system and has had a year to develop under the best quarterback to ever play in the NFL.
2. Ryan Tannehill
In the 2019 season, Ryan Tannehill was traded from the Miami Dolphins to the Tennessee Titans. He went on to lead the Titans to the AFC Championship game against the Chiefs. Tannehill ended with 22 touchdowns and 6 interceptions with 2,742 yards and a 62.2 QBR.
He spent over 6 seasons with the Dolphins and knows the Patriots well due to his repeated matchups year after year. Ryan Tannehill would give the Patriots a player with some knowledge of the system and a lot of experience. Tannehill is a good player, who if nothing else, has demonstrated career consistency.
3. Teddy Bridgewater
This is one of the more complexing situations in the NFL’s quarterback market. Bridgewater was the Minnesota Vikings’ starter until he was injured in his 3rd year. He joined the New Orleans Saints as a backup to long-time starter Drew Brees.
During the 2019 season, while Brees was injured, Bridgewater took up the mantle, and won 5 games as the starter. For those games, Bridgewater threw for 9 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Bridgewater has obvious talent, winning with both the Vikings and the Saints. However, his skillset differs from the traditional Patriots QB, but Belichick has continuously gotten the best out of what he is given. If Bridgewater goes to the Patriots, I have no doubt that he will be successful.
These 3 players are only a few of the many players available via the free agent or trade markets. But of these players, and of the unmentioned players, Jarrett Stidham is the Patriot’s best choice to move forward from Tom Brady. Other players have more experience and have a track record of performing in the NFL, but Stidham has one thing that only a couple others have — time learning from the best to ever play the QB position.
Stidham’s inherent skills, coupled with his work under Tom Brady and his year in the Patriots’ system, give him the best chance to be successful. Stidham also allows the Patriots to spend the money that would otherwise be spent on an experienced QB on positions of greater need. Stidham gives the Patriots the best chance to win.
Twitter: @nv_nate, @readZEAL
