Patriots: Rob Ninkovich believes Jarrett Stidham won’t be Week 1 starter

Rob Ninkovich, formerly of the New England Patriots for many years, thinks that Brian Hoyer is in line to start over Jarrett Stidham in Week 1.

Former New England Patriots pass rusher Rob Ninkovich believes that Brian Hoyer could be the Week 1 starter for the team this season.

After the departure of franchise quarterback Tom Brady, all signs are pointing towards Jarrett Stidham becoming the next starting quarterback for the Patriots. This will Stidham’s second year in the NFL after being selected by the team in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

The Patriots also elected not to draft a quarterback in the rather heavy 2020 draft class, leading us to believe that they’re willing to find out what Stidham is going to amount to in the NFL.

Stidham is also the only quarterback on the roster that New England actually has any real invested interest in (Hoyer is making just $1.05 million this year).

It’s worth mentioning that in the days after the draft, the Patriots also signed two undrafted rookie free agent quarterbacks: J’mar Smith and Brian Lewerke. At the moment, it’s still unknown if they’re going to be able to even make the team; however, both Smith and Lewerke will have the opportunity as we head closer toward the start of the 2020 season.

Thanks to Nick Caserio, New England’s Director of Player Personnel, we do know that the Patriots are in fact interested in adding a third quarterback to their roster for the regular season to ride along next to Stidham and Hoyer.

That being said, there’s a strong possibility that one of Smith or Lewerke is going to make the team to occupy that role.

Rob Ninkovich thinks Brian Hoyer, not Jarrett Stidham, should be the next starting quarterback for the New England Patriots.

On a recent episode of ESPN’s GET UP, the former Patriots linebacker Ninkovich explained why Stidham will still be a backup quarterback by the time Week 1 of the regular season rolls around:

"“I think Brian Hoyer will be the starter Week 1 and I say that because the quarterback position is one of the most important for reps under center, seeing defensive looks, looking at coverage, understanding the offense. Look, they’re not practicing right now. There’s no minicamp, there’s no offseason, there’s no training camp. We don’t know when that’s going to happen.So if you have a veteran quarterback who has been in the system, understands what to expect, what an NFL season is like, you’re gonna want to go with a guy who has the veteran leadership (and) also has what it takes to be in that building. Look, when you’re a second-year player, you really don’t realize what a season’s like as a starter. You don’t understand what it’s going to take, and not having an offseason does not help. So, Brian Hoyer will be the starter Week 1.”"

Although I agree with Ninkovich’s concept of what a veteran quarterback provides to a football team, it just doesn’t seem to be in the best interest for the Patriots to start the season with Hoyer as the starting quarterback for Week 1.

For starters, Stidham beat out Hoyer for the backup role last year as a rookie … so it’s probably fair to say that he is in a better position to lead the Patriots to success than Hoyer is.

Next, it’s worth mentioning that Hoyer has logged 38 starts for six different teams throughout his career, but has not made one start or played in more than five games for the Patriots during his three stints with the team.

But as of now, it’s fair to say that Bill Belichick values the veteran delivery and approach that Hoyer brings to the team as an experienced backup and potential game-managing quarterback option for the New England Patriots moving forward this season.

As previously mentioned, Stidham beat out Hoyer last year for the backup role and I believe he will do it again this year — but this time, for the starting position.