The Patriots have been linked to such day three prospect names such as Kyle Trask from Florida, Jamie Newman of Wake forest, and Kellen Mond from Texas A&M but quarterbacks Ian Book Notre Dame, Davis Mills from Stanford, Sam Ehlinger of Texas, and Shane Buechele from SMU are all day three prospect the Patriots could take a flyer on.
If the Patriots take a quarterback on day three, there is no guarantee that the player makes the roster. However, the earlier on day three any player is selected, the better their odds of making the team.
Also don't forget the Patriots will at times go stacked in various areas to prevent other teams from pinching their talent. The most famous example was them carrying four quarterbacks in 2000.
Now that brings us back to Jarrett Stidham. Anyone who heard Robert Kraft's words, knows he didn't list Cam Newton as a possible quarterback of the future but Stidham's name was mentioned in the comment. Cam is believed to be a bridge quarterback and Kraft did defend two of his quarterbacks for the 2020 season.
When talking about the Patriots future at the position however, Kraft said, "We all know long-term we have to find a way, either Jarrett Stidham or someone new we bring in..."
There have been a few people that have said Kraft is a fan of Stidham. Ray Rauth said something about Robert Kraft "the fan" putting pressure on Belichick. If Kraft is meddling as a fan, it could both help and harm Stidham and the Patriots as a whole depending on what Kraft does.
Stidham showed some potential in 2020 but also showed he was still in need of development and was hurt by the lack of OTAs, rookie minicamp camp in 2020, and the preseason. Granted he's on his third season but after everything that was missed, he's still basically a sophomore.
(Check out the film room by Lawrence Owen over at ColtsLaw on Jarrett Stidham.)
Now for any rookie quarterback that gets draft in the third round or later, they will be in direct competition with Stidham. There's not a huge difference in the 96th pick and a fourth round pick. At that point it's all semantics.
They have to know that if they want to be "the guy" that they have to outshine Stidham. If Stidham stays til midnight, they gotta stay until 1230. If he goes 5 of 7 in passing drills, they gotta go 6 of 7 minimum.
Competition breeds success normally but it can also breed discontent. If by some chance Stidham pulls ahead, he could demand more money for being doubted. If the Patriots aren't sold on Stidham or a rookie by the end of the season and the rookie becomes the guy, he could also hold out for extra money.
Another thing to consider is if the Patriots draft a quarterback in the first two rounds, they will be under a tremendous pressure. Quarterbacks taken in rounds one or two are taken to be the franchise quarterback. That means they will be compared to Brady even more than a later round pick. If people think Cam's critics are bad, they ain't seen nothing.
Any quarterback the Patriots take will be under pressure but an early pick will be under so much more. That's something Stidham could use to his advantage by increasing the pressure to take the job.
If the Patriots do take an early round quarterback, will Stidham still fight for the job or will he turn into Brian Hoyer? There's nothing wrong with following Hoyer's career path. Stidham has been called a nice guy but does he have the agression and determination in him to put that added pressure on a high round pick needed to take the job?
Regardless of what the Patriots do at quarterback, Stidham is still in the mix at the moment. How much power he has over his fate depends on where the Patriots take a quarterback. If Kirk Cousins can dethrone RG3 & Minshew can overthrow Foles, it's not out of the cards for Stidham to beat out a franchise quarterback. Hell at one point it was a shocker that Brady beat out Bledsoe.
The point of all this is Stidham is in the competition to be the Patriots future until he isn't.
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