The New England Patriots reportedly don’t like Jarrett Stidham, and haven’t since training camp.
Though it felt quite nice to snap a four-game losing streak and defeat the winless New York Jets, Patriots fans must admit they didn’t learn a lot about their roster moving forward.
Jakobi Meyers and Damien Harris both proved more effective than their predecessors, but we already knew that, and shredding the Jets didn’t alter that narrative. Cam Newton was pretty much picture perfect, but again, this was a team without a victory hurtling straight at Trevor Lawrence with a wink, and they were narrowly defeated.
But is there really anything to gain for the 3-5 Patriots in benching Newton at this point, already quite far from the top of the draft (look at all the teams under three wins!) and somewhat at the back end of the playoff race? Not really, especially considering the team doesn’t appear to believe in Jarrett Stidham, Newton’s sometimes-third-stringer, whatsoever.
According to team insider Tom E. Curran, that anti-fascination began in training camp, and Stidham hasn’t really done much since then to sway the team to reconsider him.
Tom E. Curran: Patriots don't feel very good about Jarrett Stidham dating back to training camp https://t.co/X2bSP7Csj3 pic.twitter.com/CcUyKeGaCI
— WEEI (@WEEI) November 9, 2020
To put it bluntly, as Curran did:
"“From what I am gathering, the Patriots don’t feel very good about Jarrett Stidham from really July on — the things that have gone on with him, the absence of things that have gone on with him. No compete in terms of trying to [take] that job away from Cam Newton. I think that is a big strike against him…”"
The narrative in media circles during the summer was much different, remember. You had a lot of people focused on Newton and Stidham on both sides of the country, running their own camps and attempting to prove their value separately.
Apparently, the Patriots didn’t see things the same way, and left unimpressed with Stidham’s drive to topple the former MVP (something he was never going to do anyway).
The Kotite Awards are phenomenal! Come for the slam of Jarrett Stidham, stay for Adam Gase https://t.co/AuslObx3pY
— Matt Verderame (@MattVerderame) November 10, 2020
If we’re going to extrapolate even further here: If you’re going to play Stidham at all, it should’ve been done last night against the Jets, when the Pats had everything to lose and nothing to gain from Newton outflanking them.
Turning to him now that the Patriots have an outside chance at a playoff berth is really hard to outwardly justify.
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