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All signs point to Jarrett Stidham succeeding Tom Brady as the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots. The organization has shown their faith in Stidham by not signing a veteran quarterback (at least yet) or drafting a prospect this offseason. The comments from head coach Bill Belichick reaffirmed why they seem to have so …
All signs point to Jarrett Stidham succeeding Tom Brady as the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots.
The organization has shown their faith in Stidham by not signing a veteran quarterback (at least yet) or drafting a prospect this offseason.
The comments from head coach Bill Belichick reaffirmed why they seem to have so much confidence in Stidham, whom they drafted in the fourth round last year to serve as Brady’s backup for the 2019 season.
“Stid worked really hard last year,” Belichick said on NFL Network Thursday night. “He was our backup quarterback the entire season, and I know he’s working hard in the offseason. I know he’s made a lot of progress in terms of understanding our offense and understanding opponent defenses like all players do from Year One to Year Two.
“I’m sure he will get out there and be ready to go, be prepared, compete hard, and we’ll see where it takes us.”
New England did sign undrafted free agents Brian Lewerke out of Michigan State and J’mar Smith out of Louisiana Tech. The team also has veteran Brian Hoyer on the roster after signing him to a one-year contract in late March. From all accounts, though, the job is Stidham’s to lose even though he threw a total of four passes last season in mop-up duty behind Brady.
Regardless of who takes the field for the Patriots come Week 1, whenever that may be, Belichick is sure the team will survive without Brady.
“Well, we’ve played at other times without Tom,” he said. “Whether it was the [2008] season after he was injured — we played 15 games with [Matt] Cassel and went 11-5 — or heading into the ’16 season with Jimmy [Garoppolo] and then Jacoby [Brissett], and Tom coming back after the four-game (Deflategate) suspension.
“So there have been other times where we’ve dealt with that. We’ll do what we always do, which is try to prepare the team the best that we can, utilize our players and the skills that they have and put ourselves in the best position we can to be competitive and win. That’s what we always do, and we’ll continue to do that.”
