The New England Patriots’ most telling decision from the 2020 NFL Draft is the move they didn’t make. They didn’t draft a quarterback.

They stuck with Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer. The only additions at quarterback came with undrafted free agents, Louisiana Tech’s J’Mar Smith and Michigan State’s Brian Lewerke, after the draft’s top 13 quarterbacks were selected. The two UDFA signings have upside. But no one is expecting either player to overtake Stidham or Hoyer on the depth chart. If they did, it might say more about the veterans than the rookies.

Bill Belichick downplayed the decision to avoid drafting a quarterback, because of course he did.

“If we feel like we find the right situation, we’ll certainly draft them,” he said after the draft this weekend. “We’ve drafted them in multiple years, multiple points in the draft. Didn’t work out last three days. That wasn’t by design. It could have, but it didn’t. Again, there are multiple ways to build your team. We’ll see whether or not we get word of another that comes up at a different point in time. I don’t know. We just tried to do the best we could with what we had this weekend. That’s what we did. We’ll see where it goes.”

It’s a confusing word puzzle — there’s no decoding what he’s trying to say, because he’s probably trying to say nothing on purpose.

He seems to insinuate the Patriots will explore the free agency market again (particularly with the compensatory pick formula no longer tracking the Patriots’ moves). Cam Newton is out there, but the Patriots haven’t shown interest, per The Athletic’s Jeff Howe. But the Patriots coach also makes no commitment to making any additions. Because remember: it’s likely to be a shortened offseason and reps with the first-team are likely to be precious. The Patriots coach may want to keep his quarterback competition tight to give each man a good chance of success when one wins.

FYI nothing has changed here. The Patriots haven't shown any interest in signing Cam Newton, per source. https://t.co/z4s67JOSC6

— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) April 27, 2020

Plus, New England wants to cater their offense to that quarterback. They won’t be able to specialize the offense until they’ve selected their top signal-caller.

The Patriots’ 2020 draft class cleared up the team’s future at tight end and outside linebacker, with two selections at each position in the top three rounds. But, in a way, it also clarified the quarterback position, with no selections in any of the seven rounds. It seems Stidham, who won the competition during the 2019 training to serve as Brady’s backup, has good odds to win again to serve as the 2020 starter. The Patriots didn’t feel they needed to aggressively pursue any of the prospects, in part because they’re content with what they have at the position.

Unless Belichick throws a wrench (a.k.a. a Cam Newton) into the competition, it’s likely the Patriots are going to turn over their offense to Stidham.

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Jarrett Stidham or Brian Hoyer — or someone else?

The New England Patriots have plenty of time to answer that question. And Bill Belichick wasn’t entertaining questions about any one of his quarterbacks, let alone which player might come out on top in the upcoming competition. But he did say that is was just that: an open competition.

“We spent quite a bit of time with Brian and Stid. I think we — myself and Josh (McDaniels) — have a pretty good feel for both those players,” Belichick said on a conference call on Monday when asked about Stidham’s progress. “Circumstances will be different this year, and we’ll see how everything plays out. To start with, I think the main thing is, give everyone a good chance to compete.”

It should come as no surprise that Belichick, a coach who has always emphasized ranking his depth chart upon ability alone (and not draft status or contract status), will watch his open quarterback competition play out. It would also be unsurprising if he adds another body or two to the competition.

Then, when someone wins the job, the Patriots will do everything they can to highlight that player’s strengths, even if it means changing the offense drastically for the first time in 20 years.

“Over the last two decades, everything we did, every single decision we made in terms of major planning was made with the idea of what’s best for Tom Brady,” Belichick said. “Whoever the quarterback is, we’ll try to make it — make things work smoothly and efficiently for that player and take advantage of his strengths and his skills.”

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