Why Devin McCourty is optimistic about Patriots’ QB situation

Devin McCourty had huge praise for Jarrett Stidham.

The quarterback situation is looking fairly bleak in New England. At the very least, the Patriots are approaching uncertain circumstances.

The Patriots quarterback group includes Jarrett Stidham, Brian Hoyer and Cody Kessler after Tom Brady departed in free agency. Stidham and Kessler are relatively unproven and Hoyer has been proven to be a solid backup (but not starter). Still, the Patriots players are likely to feel good about their situation in New England. At least, Devin McCourty sounded optimistic.

“I think, to me, the best thing for Stiddy (Stidham) was he had to go against our defense every week. He didn’t have it easy,” Devin McCourty said on the “Double Coverage” podcast with his brother. “To me, there were weeks he was just on point and those were some of our best weeks as a defense mainly because Stiddy ate us up in practice leading up to the game, and I think put more pressure on us. So, I really just admire how hard he works.”

He added: “The Stidham’s are going to be in New England for a long time.”

Stidham had a quiet rookie season from a media perspective. He earned praise from Belichick, but the Patriots hold closed practices, making it impossible for anyone not employed by New England to truly know how Stidham was progressing. His preseason performances — against dumbed-down defense — were impressive. In his only appearance of a regular season game, he threw a pick-six.

Not long after that, the Patriots signed Cody Kessler, who stuck around as the team’s third-string quarterback. He, too, impressed McCourty.

“He just has a veteran presence. He’s played on multiple teams, he knows our offense very well,” McCourty said. “I think he’ll bring experience and his knowledge. If he has to go out there and play, he’s going to compete at a high level, or if it’s coaching up a young quarterback, he’s going to be a guy that’s necessary to have in the locker room.”

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Don’t freak out about the Patriots’ QB situation. Here’s what Bill Belichick is thinking.

Looking at what might be the plan in New England.

Bill Belichick’s plan at quarterback remains a mystery.

The New England Patriots coach watched Tom Brady depart in free agency, much like Belichick has done with so many other aging veterans. He let someone else — in this case, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — give Brady an enormous contract. Time will tell whether that decision proves wise.

The strangest thing about Belichick’s decision, however, was that he doesn’t seem to have a contingency plan. At least, nothing has materialized — yet. The Patriots coach has acquired just one player since the open of the tampering period: receiver Damiere Byrd. Beyond that, the Patriots have actually lost six starters to free agency or trades.

So here are the breadcrumbs we’re following about the Patriots’ next quarterback.

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Vegas odds on who will replace Tom Brady and start for Patriots in Week 1

Who will get the call to replace Tom Brady and start for the Patriots in Week 1 of the 2020 season?

Tom Brady is leaving the job as starting quarterback for the New England Patriots. Who will receive the task to try and follow the G.O.A.T. in Week 1 when the Patriots take the field in 2020? Per Odd Shark.

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Jarrett Stidham’s QB coach believes he’ll be a ‘star’ for Patriots

“To be clear, I think he is a star, and he is going to be a big-time franchise quarterback.”

The New England Patriots are in a state of emergency with Tom Brady’s potential departure, right?

Longtime quarterback coach Jordan Palmer doesn’t believe that’s the case. Palmer has been second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham’s throwing coach since he was 16 years old and he has much higher expectations than most.

Palmer played in the NFL for six teams and converted into a throwing coach after his career ended. He’s the younger brother of Carson Palmer, leaving him with a slew of knowledge and experience with NFL quarterbacking.

He caught up with The Athletic’s Jeff Howe and discussed the future of Stidham, and how he can be the Patriots’ next franchise guy.

“To be clear, I think he is a star, and he is going to be a big-time franchise quarterback,” Palmer said. “I have felt that way for a couple years now. I’m totally fine saying that. I don’t care that he went fourth round. I think he is legitimate. He is going to be the leader of New England for a long time, whenever that starts. Go ahead and jump on that bandwagon.”

Unlike Jimmy Garoppolo, Stidham only spent one year under Brady, giving him less time to develop. Garoppolo’s talent became more apparent after a couple seasons in New England, and Stidham might not be lucky enough to have that luxury. If Brady stays, it gives him at least another year to learn from the greatest quarterback ever, while finding his way as an NFL talent.

Palmer and Stidham have worked vigorously at growing and doing intricate drills to increase velocity — which is viewed as one of his flaws. Stidham has been known for having a deadly accurate deep ball and making the right decisions.

“Because he can spin it as good as anybody in the league, literally from a data perspective,” Palmer said. “The focus for Jarrett was velocity. So he gained 11 percent velocity over two months, and that was almost double what the other guys were. So just by focusing on certain areas, we can make large gains. So with Jarrett, every other week or so, we’re testing that and having him throw from the simulator out on the field, and we’re able to monitor growth and address certain issues.”

Stidham also has stability that many young players lack, according to Palmer. His lifestyle allows him to focus on becoming a franchise quarterback, with little outside distractions.

“Jarrett grew up with a lot of adversity at a young age,” Palmer said. “He’s at a very mature point in his life. He’s married. He’s settled. His life is very organized. That’s a hard thing when guys’ lives are in disarray, and they are trying to be franchise quarterbacks and they’re young — it’s problematic. His life is very set and organized. That sounds lame to a fan, but it’s relevant from my perspective.

“He can throw it as good as anybody in the NFL. I think anyone who has seen him would agree with that. I’ve got five, six, seven of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL, and he is right there at the top. He has played big ball, beat ‘Bama, played big games in college, had to learn two completely different systems in college and is now learning a third. He is playing for the best organization in football and the greatest coach of all time. I would put my money on the guy who gets to play with that guy.”

If Brady does happen to leave, the Patriots will still have to draft a quarterback or find someone in free agency. But, it seems that Stidham is up for the test and ready to take over whenever he’s needed.

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Tom Brady has an unparalleled ability to mentor young quarterbacks

Tom Brady is known for many things, but his ability stay relentlessly locked in, while mentoring young quarterbacks is often overlooked.

The 42-year-old quarterback has spent 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and has been at the helm for 18 of those years. Brady spent most of the 2001 season on the bench behind Drew Bledsoe and he missed 2008 with an ACL injury.

This has left no room for his backup quarterbacks to shine in New England, but many of them have went on to have successful careers. Guys like Matt Cassel and Brian Hoyer went on to have successful careers as journeymen — while Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett are doing pretty well in their roles as starting quarterbacks. There were players like Rohan Davey and Ryan Mallett, who didn’t find their way in the league.

But, as Brady’s wisdom increased as a quarterback and mentor, his peers’ ability to branch off and become successful increased as well. Brissett and Garoppolo are the best examples of this.

Brissett was thrown into the starting role with the Indianapolis Colts in 2019 after Andrew Luck announced his retirement at the very last minute. He threw for 2,942 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions. This was with an injured T.Y. Hilton, who played in 10 games and only had 500 yards. Brissett had minimal time to prepare as the team’s starter, and he pulled away with a 7-8 record. His composure under pressure and ability to gain trust from his team is the reason that the Colts will be in good hands in 2020.

Garoppolo was a star in the making and he spent three seasons learning from Brady. He devoured information and was shaping up to be the Brady’s successor, but he found himself with the San Francisco 49ers before that could transpire. Now, Garoppolo and the 49ers are en route to the Super Bowl and he boasts a career record of 24-5.

After three years in the same locker room, Garoppolo spoke highly of Brady and his work ethic.

“That’s the impressive thing. After so many weeks in the season, guys start to get tired and pack it in. He just keeps grinding,” Garoppolo said. “To do it for such a long time — I’m telling you. It’s one of those things you feel like a robot doing it for 17 weeks straight. (His preparation) is impressive.”

He’s been like a big brother to me,” Garoppolo continued. “It’s very competitive. Arguments break out and stuff like that, but it’s just very competitive. It’s just great being around (Brady and Brissett).”

Brady isn’t always the serious and fierce competitor, he likes to have fun and even prank his teammates. In a feature by our own, Henry McKenna, he elaborates on a time Brady pranked Cassel. Brady removed the tires from his car, three of which were in his locker, and the fourth was hidden elsewhere in the facility.

“I go outside and my car is on blocks,” Cassel said. “Everyone’s laughing. I had to get a ride home from my roommate, because he wouldn’t give me my tire back.”

Above all, Cassel explained how Brady treats his teammates and doesn’t put himself on the pedestal.

“He is what you would hope someone of his stature in the game would be,” Cassel said. ”He’s a solid guy who treats people with respect. … They don’t understand how loyal he is with his friends.”

Whether it’s time to be serious or joke around, Brady is engaged and playing a leadership role for his peers. His most recent task is Jarrett Stidham, who was drafted by the Patriots in the fourth round in 2019. For the first time in Brady’s career, he’s entering free agency. If Brady were to leave, Stidham would be the only quarterback who was with the team in 2019 — potentially leaving him with the starting gig.

Stidham elaborated on the knowledge he learned from Brady in 2019.

“It was priceless,” Stidham said. “It’s going to be really cool one day when I can sit there and tell my children, or my grandkids one day, that I got to be in the same quarterback room and talking about coverages and different passing concepts with Tom.”

Brady’s future is unknown with the Patriots, but it’s hard to believe he left his current successor without the tools to lead this team. Brady, the six-time Super Bowl champion, made sure to put intention and care into everything he’s done — including the nurturing of his backup quarterbacks.

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Jarrett Stidham says he’s not focused on Tom Brady’s future

There is a lot on Stidham’s plate.

Some quarterbacks may balk at the thought of being a backup. For Jarrett Stidham, it is quite the opposite. Heading into his second year as a member of the New England Patriots, Stidham is focused on the task at hand.

Stidham saw limited action last year. The one game where he saw any action was on September 22 against the New York Jets. He completed two of four passes for 14 yards and an interception. An 11-yard pass was his longest of the afternoon.

Now, Stidham will enter his second year looking to make as much of an impact as possible. Although he indicated to the media that Tom Brady’s future was not at the forefront of his mind, you would think it has to be. After all, the stars are aligning for him to take over once Brady retires. As he told Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, he is only focusing on the immediate future.

“Right now, I can’t really think too much about all of that. I have to worry about what I need to do to prepare to enhance my game, to learn as much as I possibly can,” Stidham told ESPN. “That’s the biggest thing I’ve focused on, making a big stride from Year 1 to Year 2.”

With how complex the Patriots’ playbook is, and the baggage of filling Brady shoes once he retires or departs in free agency, there is a lot on Stidham’s plate. One has to wonder how much he will see the field next season. Whether Tom Brady comes back or not, Stidham should get a fair amount of work in the preseason.

With Brady’s future in question, Stidham could be a major factor for New England’s plans going forward. Although he says he’s not thinking about it too much, it’s likely in the back of his mind. His future relies on the status of Brady.

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7 potential replacements for Tom Brady in 2020

Looking at options in free agency, the draft and the trade market.

The New England Patriots have one of the most difficult decisions that an NFL franchise can make. They have to decide who their starting quarterback will be next season.

Tom Brady is still an option. He might be the option. But he can enter free agency this offseason, and his contract prevents the Patriots from franchise-tagging him. New England and Brady could be set for a breakup. Maybe. Probably?

Still, the Patriots may end up having no shortage of other options.

Dak Prescott, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Jameis Winston and Teddy Bridgewater, among others, are pending free agents. Extensions will come over the next few months. The options will thin out. The NFL draft will also present a few tantalizing options, like Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Jacob Eason. And of course, there’s always the trade market, where stars like Cam Newton might be available.

Here’s who the Patriots might consider as a starter in 2020 if they part ways with Brady.

1. Jarrett Stidham, QB, Patriots

Technically, he’s the most obvious option. He served as Brady’s backup for the entire 2019 season, even when Cody Kessler arrived to serve as the team’s third-team quarterback. That transaction transpired immediately after Stidham threw a pick-six in his regular-season debut. He was filling in for Brady during a blowout. But Stidham didn’t get demoted. Though his public-consumption body of work has been small, the Patriots have seen a lot of him. And perhaps we’ll begin to hear rumblings — which have already started — that they’re very impressed with his development in 2019.

Maybe they’ll give the 2019 fourth-round pick a shot at the job.

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How Tom Brady’s elbow injury is impacting Patriots’ QB depth chart

Tom Brady’s injury issues have caused a chain reaction at practices.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has appeared on the injury report this season with limitations. His elbow injury has hampered him during the second half of the season with a few missed practices. And so Bill Belichick made an admission which he doesn’t usually make during a press conference on Tuesday morning.

“There have been a couple examples where Tom hasn’t been able to do a lot this year, so that’s given [Jarrett] Stidham an opportunity to go with our first-team group and run our plays and run our offense,” Belichick said.

Belichick’s admission is notable in a season when Brady’s accuracy has been surprisingly erratic. He’s typically one of the most accurate passers in the history of the NFL, but he’s also 42 years old and, apparently, dealing with a pesky elbow problem. If Brady is playing through pain, that could limit what he’s physically capable of. It could partially explain why Brady’s completion percentage is 60.1, the lowest it has been during his career. His injury also limits his ability to prepare with his top pass-catchers, Mohamed Sanu and Julian Edelman, who have been limited at practice, as well.

Prior to Brady’s injuries, Stidham, a 2019 fourth-round pick, ran the scout team for most of the season while Brady presumably took almost all of the first-team reps. When Stidham is operating the scout team, he’s running the upcoming opponent’s plays while emulating the opposing starting quarterback. While replacing Brady, Stidham gets a chance to be himself while playing in the Patriots offense, a rarity for the rookie.

And the chain reaction continues.

“That’s given Cody [Kessler] a chance to run scout-team plays, because Jarrett’s not running those,” Belichick said. “And again, quarterbacks are always looking for more work, so they’ve taken advantage of it, and it’s helped them. You don’t always want to do it that way, but sometimes it’s best to do it that way.”

Belichick admitted the three quarterbacks have come in handy. New England has tended to carry two quarterbacks under Belichick’s 20-year tenure. A shallow quarterback group helps create depth at other positions on the roster. But they’ve needed all three signal-callers. Brady’s injury has led to part-time promotions for Stidham and Kessler. There are some hiccups, however. As Brady, Stidham and Kessler are at different developmental stages, the Patriots coaching staff has been careful to attend to their individual needs.

“You need to go over things with them that, honestly, you’ve been over with Tom 400 times,” Belichick said. “Try to be more efficient and work with those guys. … You don’t want to down to the guys that have a lot of experience and you don’t want to talk about the guys who don’t really know what you’re talking about. So as a teacher, you try to bridge that.”

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Future QB Rankings: Rating all 32 NFL teams’ situations from worst to best

Touchdown Wire ranks the 32 NFL teams in terms of stability and potential at the game’s most important position over the next 3-4 seasons.

Future QB Rankings: Rating all 32 NFL teams’ situations from worst to best

Touchdown Wire ranks the 32 NFL teams in terms of stability and potential at the game’s most important position over the next 3-4 seasons.

Tom Brady might be the best quarterback ever, but he’s not the best in the NFL right now. He certainly won’t be the best in 2022.

He’s human, after all, and at age 42, regression is inevitable even for someone with six Super Bowl rings. That puts the New England Patriots in an uncertain situation at quarterback two or three years down the road. The New Orleans Saints, with 40-year-old Drew Brees under center, find themselves in a similar scenario.

Other teams, such as the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers, likely will face difficult personnel decisions at the quarterback position much sooner than that. Only a handful of teams, notably the Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks, appear secure in their quarterback situation for years to come.

All this got us thinking about the quarterback situations of the future — and where each of the NFL’s 32 teams ranks in terms of preparedness at the game’s most crucial position.

By quarterback situations, we mean the full overview of each team’s quarterbacks group, including backups and a potential succession plan, if necessary. For this exercise, we will define the future as three to four years down the road.

To help form these opinions, we consulted with a blue-ribbon panel of one former head coach, two former general managers and one current general manager. They were asked for their thoughts on each team’s quarterback situation. They provided insight to inform our rankings.

With that in mind, we present Touchdown Wire’s future quarterback rankings for every NFL team, from worst to first:

32. Miami Dolphins

Earlier this season, many observers accused the Dolphins of tanking to earn the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and presumably select a quarterback. Since then, Miami (2-8) has been eclipsed by the ineptitude of Cincinnati (0-10) and Washington (1-9), so the Dolphins might not get the first QB off the board. Currently, the Dolphins have Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen on their roster. Rosen has failed in his playing time. There’s no way he’ll be back next year. The Dolphins have the option to hang onto Fitzpatrick, 36, who’s currently under contract next season at $5.5 million. It makes sense to keep Fitzpatrick around for one more year to help groom a young quarterback. That could be LSU’s Joe Burrow, Alabama’s Tua Tagavailoa (although his recent hip injury now complicates his draft status), Oregon’s Justin Herbert or Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts. Two members of my panel said they like Burrow better than Tagovailoa. Either way, it’s going to take some time to develop a young quarterback.

31. Chicago Bears

For the moment, Mitchell Trubisky is Chicago’s starting quarterback. But it doesn’t appear that he will be in that role next year — although he remains under contract and the team holds a fifth-year option on the No. 2 overall pick from 2017. Given his level of play this season, it’s highly unlikely he will receive the option year, and he might not even see 2020 with the Bears — although the cap hit for cutting him would be slightly more than $9 million. The Bears are 4-6 after going 12-4 last year. There’s one main reason for the decline. That’s Trubisky. My panelists say he’s holding the offense back and could end up keeping a good team out of the playoffs. All four panelists agree Trubisky should be nothing more than a backup. Current backup Chase Daniel’s contract expires after this season. So there’s no telling who will be Chicago’s quarterback next year. Maybe the Bears will draft a quarterback. But with a talented roster already in place, the Bears should be first in line to sign New Orleans backup Teddy Bridgewater as a free agent.

30. Cincinnati Bengals

Veteran Andy Dalton has been benched, and the Bengals are giving rookie fourth-rounder Ryan Finley a shot. There should be no turning back to Dalton, even though he remains under contract for 2020 with a $17.5 million scheduled salary. The Bengals can cut Dalton after the season without any salary cap ramifications. It’s too early to judge Finley. Cincinnati is going to end up with an early draft pick and could have a shot at Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert or Jalen Hurts. The Bengals will be starting over. But, given their current state, that’s not a bad thing. “Dalton had more than enough time and couldn’t win consistently,” one panelist said. “I have no idea what they have in Finley. But they have to draft a quarterback if they’re sitting there at No. 1 or 2.”

29. Washington Redskins

The current situation is a mess. Veterans Colt McCoy and Case Keenum, who clearly aren’t the answer, each is in the last year of their contract. The Redskins have little choice but to play rookie Dwayne Haskins, who has five interceptions and two touchdown passes, the rest of this season. Call it an audition for Haskins. But this situation is complicated because the Redskins currently have interim coach Bill Callahan, who took over when Jay Gruden was fired. There will be a new coach next year, and he might not like Haskins. With an early draft pick likely, the new coach might want his own guy. Give up on Haskins after only one season? Arizona did it with 2018 first-round pick Josh Rosen after drafting Kyler Murray. All four of our panelists said Haskins was overrated when he was drafted.

28-25 / 24-21 / 20-17 / 16-13 / 12-9 / 8-5 / 4-1

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