The Patriots wanted at least another season to develop Stidham and still have questions about who he is as a quarterback. That's according to Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal.
Bedard said "How do I know? Well, for starters, multiple team sources told me after the season — well before Brady’s future was known or declared — that the team was pleased where Stidham was (similar to the spot to where Jimmy Garoppolo was after his first season), thought he had a chance to be a good player, but there much unknown about him. All things being equal, he likely needed at least another year of seasoning before really tackling the position."
Now when you go from possibly being a first round quarterback, to a fourth round draft pick; it's quite understandable how a team could still question a players ability after only one season. If only Belichick paid more attention to Brady's breadcrumbs, he would saw Brady leaving and Stidham would've gotten more attention.
People are drawing similarities between Brady and Stidham. Stidham will have to earn his job as there is expected to be a quarterback competition between himself, Hoyer, Smith, and Lewerke. Brady too had to earn his way, he wasn't just given the starting job permanently the day Bledsoe went down, according to our pal Marty Fenn over at Clutch Point.
"Brady was hardly “ready” to become the full-time starter in New England when Drew Bledsoe went down in 2001, but he earned his stripes and thus began one of the greatest careers in NFL history." Wrote Fenn.
The Patriots still have Majority of their number one defense and it would be shocking if the team didn't field a top 5 defense in 2020. Having a good defense will keep Stidham in games and could put him in a lot of pressure situations to lead gaming winning fourth quarter drives, furthering his development.
Expect Bill to open up more of the more mobile air raid plays in his "Air West Spread" system (Air Raid-West Coast-Spread). I expect to see Stidham on a few rollouts, options, RPOs and even designed scrambles from an empty formation. Hell, the wildcat and flexbone both have to be options the way the current roster is set up.
The hardest thing for New England this offseason will be, being patient with Stidham. The team doesn't have a lot of money at the moment and won't until they start making roster moves. Over the cap, who's probably the most accurate team salary calculator has the Patriots currently at $1,196,964 in free cap space.
The Patriots have several players they could trade to acquire a quarterback. The two most obvious choices are Brissett who has experience in the system but comes with a 7.8 million dollar price tag, or RG3 who has experience starting and only has a $2 million cap hit.
The good news for Patriots Nation is when Brady left and Belichick called out "Next Man Up", although it took a while; four men answered the call. Thus leading to an upcoming quarterback competition. All four are gonna feel the pressure knowing that one wrong move could cost them a roster spot.
So while the Patriots may have questions about Stidham, while singing his praises; The job is currently his to lose. It's going to be an exciting spring and summer in New England.
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