One quick note, don't confuse completion percentage with accuracy. Cam Newton came to New England with a percentage under sixty percent, and although he has a much higher competition percentage, he has been saved by the hands of his pass catchers, as his ball placement is poorly thrown to their bubbles.
At quarterback there are three names that stand out. The 2020 Patriots offense at times, has shown how effective the option run can be. What hurt that aspect of the offense was the accuracy and decision making of Cam Newton.
Newton is a see it and throw it quarterback, not a passing drill quarterback capable of understanding and hitting timing routes. Newton showed he's only capable of two things this year, throwing it deep or running it. That style play caused Logan Thomas to switch positions because it doesn't typically work in the NFL.
There are two mobile quarterbacks going to be free agents that can hit timing routes and while maybe not as athletically gifted, could potentially run the 2020 Patriots offense better or at least to the level fans were hoping for. Both quarterbacks as starters have led their teams to the playoffs before injury ended their playoff run. Both were also ran out of town by impatient fan bases hungry for a change in culture.
Tyrod Taylor, the 31 year old quarterback has bounced around the league since leading Buffalo into the post season. The knock on Taylor is he's too conservative. Fans over his ten year career have bitched and yelled for him to throw the ball to covered pass catchers and to take a chance on the big play, mainly by having him throw the ball up for grabs, 40 yards or more down field.
Taylor doesn't like to throw the fifty fifty ball and that angers fans, who seem to prefer high risk gun slinging to the dink and dunk, game manager style quarterback play. A style that can be successful with the right combination of quarterback and coaching staff. Taylor's not gonna wow anyone with highlight throws but like Chad Pennington, he has the ability to dissect a defense, even if it means taking off.
Over Taylor's ten year career, he's played in seventy two games, starting forty seven of them. He has a career completion percentage of 61.4 and has thrown for 9770 yards. He's thrown for 54 touchdowns and 20 Interceptions. Taylor also has a career rushing average of 5.4 yards per carry.
Taylor has spent seven of his ten years as a backup, losing his job to injury and a hot quarterback multiple times. His time in Buffalo was with Rex Ryan's ultra conservative passing / extremely run heavy offense. The Patriots would give Taylor the ability to throw for 3600 yards and rush for another 400 more. Stats expected from Cam in August.
The second name on my list is Robert Griffin the Third. Griffin is currently 30 years old and since his time with the Redskins came to an end, the quarterback like Taylor has been primarily a backup plagued by injuries. He's been sitting behind Lamar Jackson the past few years.
Griffin played his first season in 2012 but missed both the 2015 and 2017 seasons. Griffin has appeared in fifty six games, starting forty of them. Griffin has a career completion percentage of 63 and has thrown for 9271 yards. Griffin has thrown 43 touchdowns and 30 interceptions over his career. A large part of his turnovers has been him being under pressure alot, playing with inexperienced pass catchers, and throwing from behind (losing).
Griffin also has a 4.9 yards per carry career average and like Taylor should easily add on another 400 yards to the Patriots rushing offense.
The a Patriots could just bring back Cam Newton if they want a mobile quarterback but his inaccuracy has hurt the Patriots as he's been saved by the hands of his 27th ranked pass catchers, which Cam Newton and the Patriots coaches are at least 50% responsible for. The 27th ranked Pass catchers, who the Patriots have just failed to teach separation to at the same time having a quarterback who throws to their area Instead of to them.
The last name on my list is "Big Red" himself, 33 year old Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton's career with the Bengals was a double edged sword where the coaching staff and team injuries hurt him just as much as his career in Cincinnati helped him. Dalton is coming off a one year deal with Dallas.
Over Dalton's ten year career, he has appeared in 143 games starting 141 of them. Dalton has a career completion percentage of 62.2 percent. The pocket passer has thrown for 33,520 yards with 218 touchdowns and 125 interceptions.
Unlike the other quarterbacks in this list, Dalton is not a mobile quarterback, however that doesn't mean he won't scramble when he needs to. Dalton had a career average of 3.1 yards per carry and averaged 128 yards a season.
All three free agents I mentioned can throw timing routes, something that is not part of current quarterback Cam Newton's game. The Patriots could execute the 2020 version of the Patriots offense with Taylor or RGIII way better than they could with Newton. With Dalton, they could roll back into the full Tom Brady playbook.
All three guys should come cheap, under ten million dollars, and All three could help develop an incoming rookie or compete with backup Jarrett Stidham and push him to be better. Something Stidham's buddy and Auburn alumni failed to do. If the Patriots want to bring back Cam Newton to mentor a rookie quarterback, they'd be better off just re-signing Brian Hoyer or having Stidham who will be under contract still do it.
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