New England Patriots: Danny Etling putting in extra work early on

With training camp underway, New England Patriots quarterback Danny Etling is working hard to try and make the team.

Heading into the 2018 NFL Draft, many were expecting the New England Patriots to draft a potential successor for Tom Brady. With two picks in the first round, the Patriots had the opportunity to do so, but they decided to pass.

Instead of taking a quarterback early, the Patriots ended up drafting Danny Etling in the seventh round. This was certainly a surprising pick for the Patriots, as seventh-round picks generally don’t amount to much.

With Tom Brady and Brian Hoyer clearly making the team this season, it will be interesting to see if Etling is able to play well enough in training camp for the Patriots to consider carrying a third quarterback. They did carry three quarterbacks last season, but Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett were more proven than Etling.

Knowing that this a huge opportunity for Etling, he is already working extra in training camp trying to improve. Recently, Etling talked to Zack Cox of NESN.com about trying to improve.

"“You just try to get everything you can,” Etling said. “Maybe some reps you saw in practice that you would want an extra rep at or things you didn’t do well in practice or just things you (covered) in a meeting that you know you weren’t going to get to do in practice. So you plan it out after practice and try to get after it — try to make sure that you’re ready to go and ready to understand things by the next meeting and the next opportunity.”"

At LSU, Etling’s stats were all that impressive in his junior and senior seasons, as LSU has been a run-first program. Etling didn’t total over 2,500 passing yards either of those seasons, but he did have a solid touchdown to interception ratio.

Since being drafted, Etling has already been working hard on his mechanics to improve as a passer. Changing mechanics and coming into the NFL can be a lot for a quarterback, and his hard work is certainly necessary.

In the preseason, Etling will likely get a lot of playing time as the third quarterback, as the Patriots won’t be using Brady much, and they know what they have in Hoyer. Whether it is for the Patriots or another team, Etling will have to be prepared to showcase what he can do in those games.