Tom Brady is no longer walking through that door in Foxborough, so the New England Patriots will have to turn to someone else to man the quarterback position.
Right now, the frontrunner to take the job might just be Jarrett Stidham, who is entering his second year.
While Stidham is unproven, Patriots safety Devin McCourty, speaking on his Double Coverage podcast on Sunday, seems to like his potential:
“To me, the best thing for Stiddy was that he had to go against our defense every week. He didn’t have it easy. I love his poise. I would be faking a blitz sometimes and we’d make eye contact and he’d just start smiling and laughing.”
Stidham, who played his collegiate football at Auburn, was originally selected by New England in the fourth round (133rd pick overall) of the NFL Draft last spring.
Given that the Patriots haven't expressed much interest in other veteran quarterbacks who are available, it stands to reason that they feel confident about having Stidham under center entering 2020 and beyond. McCourty added:
“To me, there were weeks where 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 admire just how hard he works, and then I’ve got to know him off the field as well. He’s a really good guy. Young guy, but very mature. He’s married. I think the Stidhams are going to be in New England for a long time.”
Of course, Stidham has some gigantic shoes to fill, but the good news is that the 23-year-old seems to have support from his teammates.
It remains to be seen if Stidham can help channel that into production next season. That being said, there is also no guarantee that Stidham will even be the starter come Week 1. The Patriots brought back veteran Brian Hoyer over the weekend and should be Stidham's biggest competition this offseason.
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