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.”
