The Patriots' Quarterbacks Competition So Far

The Patriots are in the middle of a quarterback competition for the 2020 season. Stidham and Newton were named co-starters and Belichick was open to the possibility of platoon the starters. 

The reps were kept pretty even until Stidham suffered a lower body injury sometime the night of Monday the 17th. The Patriots apparently didn't know about it until the Thursday after and have been limiting his reps. Sources say the Patriots believe that his inability to properly plant his leg and inability to use his throwing Mechanics led to his interceptions spree.

Mark Daniels released the quarterbacks stats as of 2pm eastern time. Here's how Mark breaks everything down.

"Cam Newton: 101/156 (65%), 4 INT, Brian Hoyer: 71/115 (62%), 2 INT, Jarrett Stidham: 44/61 (72%), 7 INT." 

One thing we have heard since Brady left about these three quarterbacks, most recently from Belichick about Newton; is that the three quarterbacks are the first guys in and last guys out type of players. That kinda work ethic is needed to replace the GOAT.

All three quarterbacks are putting up decent numbers, Hoyer's numbers could pass for Aaron Rodgers. Stidham has been near perfect accuracy the past two days, going 6 for 6 during the 7 on 7 drills Wednesday.

Chris Mason wrote about Wednesday's camp saying, "It wasn’t a pretty morning for the offense, as Cam Newton and Brian Hoyer both missed some wide open targets and only completed about half of their passes."

Mason went on to say Newton was putting too much power on the balls and over throwing his targets, that defensive backs were dropping easy interceptions. Thus Newton's interceptions were kept down because he was throwing too hard for even defensive backs to catch the ball. 

Bernd Buchmasser wrote about Cam and Hoyer, "As was already pointed out in the practice recap, Cam Newton and Brian Hoyer struggled at times on Wednesday and did not have their best performances. The two veterans combined to complete just over half their passes in team drills: Newton went a combined 10 of 18 with an interception, with Hoyer completing four of nine attempts. The two were inaccurate at times and simply failed to establish a consistent rhythm with the players around them."

Newton could be looking at double digit interceptions on his camp totals right now, something I am sure Belichick took notice of, regardless if they were dropped. Several writers said Newton's accuracy got better as the day went on. 

Buchmasser also wrote about Stidham, "Stidham did not participate during 11-on-11 work as a passer — he did exclusively hand the football off to the running backs on his lone series — but he still appears to be trending in the right direction coming off a hip injury. The second-year man, who is unlikely to challenge Newton for the starting gig in camp, completed all six of his attempts during 7-on-7s and threw some pin-point passes to tight end Ryan Izzo and wide receiver N’Keal Harry. His accuracy is much improved compared to the end of last week, and so appears to be his confidence."

The injury really did hurt Stidham, as from the way things are looking he is the better passer. Cam is young enough to play another seven to eight years. It's very possible that Stidham could not only lose the 2020 job to Newton but his career in New England. 

With under three weeks left, Hoyer and Stidham have to up the ante if they are going to keep the job from Newton.