The quest for a quarterback in New England continues and so far it’s not going very well, even while admitting that the post-Tom Brady era is not yet even a year old.
With free agency barely more than a week away and April’s 2021 NFL Draft coming on fast, quarterback is pretty much the only topic anyone wants to talk about in regards to what’s going on in Patriot Nation.
Who’s the answer? How do you get him? Can you win a Super Bowl with him?
Media members have spent plenty of blog posts posing possible candidates in free agency, which if we’re being honest are lackluster at best.
Indeed, NFL Network has reported that Bill Belichick’s Patriots aren’t “enamored” with any of the options set to hit the free agent market.
Geez, really??!! You mean Mitchell Trubisky, Andy Dalton, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tyrod Taylor don’t move the needle?
And the seemingly realistic would-be trade options – Jimmy Garoppolo or Sam Darnold come to mind –certainly would be interesting to consider if those guys even become available based on how other team’s offseason plans play out. It’s a trade market waiting game at best.
Finally, there are the pie-in-the-sky trade ideas, dream Hall of Fame-caliber talents like Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson being bandied about.
But are the Patriots really going to win a bidding war for one of those guys (some in the region have suggested offering the Texans five or more first-round picks) or even represent the best landing spot for those quarterbacks’ own personal no-trade-clause interests? Nope. Not happening.
So should Belichick, the Patriots and all of us really keep beating our collective heads against the QB wall this spring or is it possible to find another way to skin the proverbial pigskin cat? (Sorry, PETA, it’s just a cliché with a lot of animal-loving offense built in!)
Do the Patriots need to find a quarterback to turn things around after the first non-playoff season since 2008? Obviously. But you can’t find what isn’t there.
And the only thing worse than New England not adding its quarterback of the present and future this offseason might be the team swinging desperately for its quarterback of the present and the future this offseason and missing badly.
Take the wrong guy at No. 15 overall in the draft (squinting in your direction, Mac Jones) and you will live to regret it. Not only will you still not have a QB but you won’t have the elite player at another position you could have potentially taken with the pick.
Trade for the wrong guy – let’s just use Marcus Mariota as a hypothetical example of an NFL failure that some have convinced themselves is the answer – and you’ve lost those trade assets, probably paid the veteran option too much money that could have been invested elsewhere and lost a year of possibly developing another option. (Nope, I’m still not giving up on the Jarrett Stidham idea!)
We all know the Patriots need a quarterback. We all know that it’s the most important position in sports and will be most closely tied to New England’s future long-term and ultimate successes.
We all also know there isn’t a sure-fire answer at the position currently attainable, even if some of us have convinced ourselves otherwise.
So, don’t force the issue then.
The Patriots have a lot of other work to do this offseason other than the all-important QB spot. New England legitimately has pressing needs at tight end, wide receiver and defensive line. There are also potentially budding questions on the offensive line, in the secondary and at linebacker.
That’s a lot of roster holes above and beyond the shiny-object quarterback that is all anyone really wants to talk about.
Of course the good news is that Belichick – yes, the man who’s struggled with first-round picks for the better part of the last decade – owns the 15th pick in the draft and $60-plus-million in cap space with which to address his teams’ many, many needs.
And that’s exactly what Belichick needs to do. Don’t fixate on the quarterback position. Focus the energy and assets elsewhere.
Improve the rest of the roster.
Then, when the right quarterback becomes available – this is the new NBA-esque NFL, guys like Matthew Stafford, Jared Goff and even Brady himself actually do become available – pounce at the opportunity as a ready-made team looking for its leader.
Will Dak Prescott be a true free next offseason? Could Aaron Rodgers run out of patience in Green Bay? Is some other hard-to-fathom franchise QB going to shockingly want a change of scenery like Watson or Wilson? Pies-in-the-sky come in different flavors. It could happen.
And the Patriots need to be a realistic landing spot option when it does. Be a team that’s on a QB’s preferred list of destinations, which can’t be said about the Patriots these days with the rest of the roster in relative shambles.
Belichick can change that this offseason and while most of the world is prioritizing the quarterback position for the Patriots that’s exactly what he should do. The man whose successful game plans over the years have been built on flexibility and multiplicity needs to take that approach with the offseason.
Need a QB but can’t find one? Then go stock up on everything else first.
Bill Parcells once famously noted upon his departure from running the Patriots that, “If they want you to cook the dinner at least they should let you shop for some of the groceries.”
Well, what if you planned on a nice steak dinner but you get to the butcher shop or local grocer and they’re all out of filet or even decent cuts of meat? Do you still buy it or do you switch up your dinner plans by grabbing some chicken, fish or some other acceptable meal and push back your fancy steak dinner to another night?
For the here and now the Patriots may need to change their recipe for success. Forget the QB position for the moment – even if that means another year of Cam Newton, Stidham or alternative stand-in option -- and figure everything else out.
It’s not the perfect plan. It’s not even a sexy plan that’s easy to rally behind. But it could be the sad reality of the Patriots current lot in QB life.
And it might just be the right thing to do in the long run.
The Link LonkMarch 08, 2021 at 07:00PM
https://www.radio.com/weei/sports/patriots/patriots-best-plan-at-qb-might-be-to-forget-the-qb-for-now
Patriots' best plan at QB might be to forget the QB, for now anyway - RADIO.COM
https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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