Patriots: Taking an in Depth Look at New QB Jacoby Brissett

I must admit, like most of you, when the third round of the draft came and gone, I was left in a state of confusion. First the Patriots drafted an OG, a year removed from when they made two selections at the position, and then they drafted QB Jacoby Brissett. This move raises eyebrows for a couple reasons, the first being that they just drafted the heir apparent to Tom Brady in Jimmy Garoppolo two years ago, the second is that Brissett doesn’t quite fit the mold of the prototypical pocket passer that New England would seemingly target as a back up QB.

“This kid has a lot of heart, kind of like a ‘hero syndrome'”

Because of this second reason, I took the liberty of watching a couple of his games at NC State to try and figure out why they would take Brissett quarterback so high and between 2014 and 2015, there are two different sides to this quarterback.

“The first thing that stood out from his 2015 season was that this kid has a lot of heart, kind of like a “hero syndrome.” The players around Brissett at NC State were not very good. His offensive line, with the exception of Thuney, could not pass block with any type of consistency, his pass catchers dropped the ball on numerous occasions, and other than Brissett, the running game was almost non existent.

The games they lost that were relatively close in score, (Clemson, Louisville, Florida State, Virginia Tech and North Carolina) was because of Brissett. He put the offense on his back and made something out of nothing mostly by scrambling out of the pocket, up field or on designed quarterback runs. It became very clear that Brissett was the only offensive weapon NC State had and even though he was the only offensive weapon, he never seemed to give up or get down no matter what the score was.

When he did drop back to pass, he was always under constant pressure, from at least two defenders. He was sacked 74 times in the two years he played at NC State as a result and that number could have easily been 174 if it wasn’t for Brissett’s pocket awareness. He is very good at making defenders miss in the pocket and even when he does get hit, he doesn’t go to the ground easy. He has great lower body strength and control and bounces off defenders, or will stay on his feet long enough to throw the ball out of bounds, if not underneath on a dump off pass to the running back. With that being said, Brissett took a lot of hard hits.

As stated before, he has a lot of heart and doesn’t like to just go down, he is always looking to get the maximum amount of yardage possible on each quarterback run or scramble. If he wants to have a lengthy career in the NFL, he is going to have to learn to slide and give him self up. Now because of the lack of talent around him, this is all that could really be said about Brissett as there wasn’t much more to go off of as he was left running for his life majority of the snaps he took in 2015. In 2014 is where it gets a little bit more clear on what they might have saw in this kid.

“He was sacked 74 times in the two years he played at NC State as a result and that number could have easily been 174 if it wasn’t for Brissett’s pocket awareness.”

So just like last season, the Wolfpack’s offensive line in 2014 wasn’t great, but it was slightly better than the version that lined up in 2015. He also had a TE and a RB that caught the ball consistently and were more dynamic with the ball in their hands. As a result of the two things, more of Brissett’s passing ability was on display. He can throw the ball through tight passing lanes and away from defenders with the right amount of touch and accuracy. He also does a good job of taking the time to progress through his reads and not just taking off when his first read isn’t there. When he was scrambling, extending plays and throwing the ball on the run, he showed a fair amount of accuracy, especially on passes 10 yards and less.

There are a couple knocks on him, the first being is that he needs to be more consistent with his mechanics. In the games I watched, there were at least one or two passes thrown deep that seemed to wobble in the air and lacked the needed velocity to get where it was intended to be. The other knock can be attributed to his “hero syndrome.” He never gives up on plays and is always looking to get the most out of everything he does, this isn’t always beneficial. There were two times I counted where he was scrambling around and ended up throwing the ball up for grabs.

After doing the research, I have changed my tune on the pick. I still would have rather New England of taken a skill position player or an OT, but I do not hate the pick anymore. I believe Brissett could be the heir apparent to Brady especially if Garappolo performs well if Brady’s suspension is not overturned and turns himself into a valuable trade asset.