Jarrett Stidham will be Week 1 starting QB for the New England Patriots

Bill Belichick says that Jarrett Stidham will be preparing this summer to become the next starting quarterback of the New England Patriots.

It appears that Jarrett Stidham will be the next starting quarterback for the New England Patriots.

In the first offseason without franchise quarterback Tom Brady, the Patriots haven’t really made many additions to their offense as far as upgrades to the team for their new, inexperienced, and raw second-year quarterback, Jarrett Stidham.

Bill Belichick talked with Rich Eisen after the NFL released their 2020 game day schedules on Thursday night. The Patriots head coach calmly talked about his team’s quarterback position as he prepares for the regular season, and he alluded to feeling confident about where his team is right now in the offseason with the four quarterbacks the Patriots currently have on the roster, per the The Rich Eisen Show:

"“That’s where we are. You never know what’s going to happen down the road. We feel like we have four good players there – we added Brian and J’mar to Hoyer and Stidham – we’d like to work with all of those guys and see how it goes.”"

Belichick is clever and always has another card up his sleeve, so for him to say “you never know what’s going to happen down the road” is the realest Belichick statement that could be said. It also leaves the window of uncertainty and unpredictability wide open for something major to happen at some point during the season.

Also, during the 2020 NFL Draft, Nick Caserio — Patriots Director of Player Personnel — said that the team has intentions of bringing in a third quarterback for the season. With that being said, it would be fair to assume that means either J’mar Smith or Brian Lewerke would become the third quarterback for the Patriots.

But then again — as previously mentioned — you never know what to expect with Belichick or the New England Patriots.

In regards to Stidham, this situation must feel all too similar for Belichick, who chose to ride with Brady — a mildly inexperienced quarterback who went on to become the franchise’s all-time leading player — for the 2002 season.

When asked, Belichick told Eisen that he believes Stidham will be prepared and ready to go:

"“Stid worked really hard last year. He was our backup quarterback the entire season. I know he’s working hard in the offseason and has made a lot of progress in terms of understanding our offense and understanding opponent defenses – like all players do from year one to year two. I’m sure he’ll get out there and be ready to, be prepared, compete hard, and we’ll see where he takes us.”"

Stidham — who was a fourth-round draft pick in 2019 — impressed Belichick, his coaching staff, and his teammates last year with the way he carried himself and handled his duties as the backup quarterback.

After sitting behind Tom Brady and learning from him as a rookie, it would be fair to confidently say that everything is aligned for Stidham to be the Week 1 starting quarterback of the New England Patriots in 2020.