Auburn coach Gus Malzahn believes the New England Patriots picked a good one in quarterback Jarrett Stidham. Malzahn wished congratulations to the 21-year-old old quarterback, who the Patriots selected in the fourth round at 133rd overall on Saturday.
Malzahn is a little bit biased, but he wrote on Twitter that “the [Patriots] just got the steal of the draft.” The Tigers coach worked with Stidham for two seasons, when Stidham helped Auburn win an SEC West Division Championship.
In his final college season in 2018, Stidham completed 60.7 percent of his passes for 2,794 yards, 18 touchdowns and five interceptions. In 2017, he completed 66.5 percent of his passes for 3,158 yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Stidham appealed to the Patriots for a number of reasons. Naturally, he’s a developmental prospect. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have landed in the fourth round. But there’s the sense that Malzahn’s offense might have actually worked against Stidham’s development. During a conference call after getting drafted, Stidham addressed why his 2017 season was far better than his 2018 season. He explained the team spent most of the year searching for their identity.
“I think there’s different things that happen throughout the season, and I think myself, Coach Malzahn, Coach [Chip] Lindsey – if we were all to kind of look back and go back and read through the season, I think we’d just open it up a lot more,” Stidham said.
Even while troubleshooting over the turnover at running back and interior offensive line, Stidham’s skills were on display enough to appeal to New England.
“He’s a smart player who takes care of the football with pretty good arms strength,” Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio said on Saturday. “He’s fairly athletic, though not a running quarterback but he has decent movement skills, so I’m sure he’ll be competitive with the rest of the players that we have at the position.”
Stidham will compete against Brian Hoyer and Danny Etling to serve as the Patriots backup.
