With Tom Brady’s departure is Jared Stidham ready to step into the role as the next GOAT in New England?
As of a few days ago, Tom Brady is now officially a part of the Tampa Bay Buccanears organization and has moved on from New England. Now, the Patriots face a serious dilemma that any fan of the NFL asks or talks about with their friends everyday.
Who will be the starting quarterback for the?
Patriots in week one of the upcoming season. After recently signing Brian Hoyer to a one year deal, it is looking like the battle to be at the helm will be between him and second year quarterback Jarrett Stidham.
Stidham had a very weird college football tenure before coming to New England. In 2015, he started off at Baylor where he only played three games, then transferred to Mclennan Community College where did not even play football. When he finally transferred to Auburn, he played his last two years in 2017 and 2018. He was selected in the fourth round by the Patriots last year and has been somewhat flying under the radar until now.
The Patriots now have Brian Hoyer back on the roster who is not unfamiliar with the style of play there in New England. Hoyer was on the team initially back in 2009 until 2011 as an undrafted free agent and backed up Tom Brady in that span.
He then went on to play for a multitude of teams such as the Browns, Steelers, and Cardinals before coming back to New England in 2017. This second stint was short lived though as he was gone by 2018, but is now back for his third tenure with the team in 2020.
Hoyer seems like the obvious choice since he already knows the system really well and has an idea of what coach Bill Belicheck is looking for in his quarterback. Although, he has proven to be injury prone in the past, suffering multiple severe injuries that set back his career. In addition, Brian Hoyer is much older than Stidham so he has more experience of what is expected in the league compared to Jarrett.
Both Belicheck and offensive coordinator have came out and said though that they do have the utmost confidence in Stidham believing he can be the one to take over. Stidham is starting to look like someone who might surprise a lot of people come this season. Even Stidham’s teammates like safety Devin McCourty have came out and praised him, saying they believe he can be the one to step up and replace Brady.
Regardless, nothing is set in stone as of right now for who will be getting that starting quarterback position. The Patriots have a lot of time to mull it over and really think about it because the season itself may not even start on time due to the unfortunate ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
One thing is for sure though and that is, Jarrett Stidham will be a name to remember and keep in mind going forward in the NFL.