Patriots sending scouts to watch Trevor Lawrence seems like a giant waste of time
By Jerry Trotta
The New England Patriots have a quarterback hole to fill this offseason, and if they don’t want to send their fan base into a permanent state of despondency, they would be better served avoiding signing another stopgap veteran.
We obviously don’t mean that as a slight to Cam Newton, but even he would agree that he didn’t perform up to par this past season.
In many ways, his underwhelming campaign should’ve signaled to the Patriots that they need to either select a top prospect in the early rounds of the draft or trade for a veteran who can step in and lead them to the playoffs.
When it comes to the former option, the Patriots have been heavily linked with Mac Jones after his record-setting season (his first as the starter) with Alabama. Slated with the No. 15 overall pick, New England simply won’t have the luxury of choosing between some of the other prospects ranked ahead of him on draft boards.
Despite that, however, the Patriots were one of several teams to send scouts to watch Clemson star Trevor Lawrence throw at his pro day on Friday. Given that every mock draft in the galaxy has him going No. 1 overall, this move feels like a giant waste of time.
Other teams who sent coaches, personnel people or area scouts: #49ers, #Broncos, #Chargers, #Dolphins, #Eagles, #Giants, #Lions, #Patriots, #Raiders, #Saints, #Steelers, #Texans, #Titans. https://t.co/yvPdo7GqHn
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 12, 2021
Why would the Patriots send scouts to watch Trevor Lawrence’s pro day?
We get that the Patriots are probably just doing their due-diligence on Lawrence, but going to watch him throw literally won’t end up serving a purpose. If nothing else, it will just remind them of what could’ve been had they embraced a full-blown tank from Week 1 last season. Who needs that kind of hurt with such an immense offseason ahead?
Seriously though, in the slim chance that the Jaguars take another quarterback — which would immediately be regarded as one of the dumbest moves in draft history — Lawrence would never fall to the Patriots … even if they pulled off a miracle and managed to trade into the top five.
As dysfunctional as the Jets have been in recent years, their current regime appears to have turned the proverbial corner and they clearly wouldn’t let Lawrence slide past the second pick.
Meanwhile, #Jaguars HC Urban Meyer is literally standing on the field watching Trevor Lawrence at his pro day. Majority of the other NFL people in attendance are on the sidelines. pic.twitter.com/TCGWOdBBES
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) February 12, 2021
It’s duly noted that this is part of the pre-draft process, but perhaps the Patriots would be better off sending these scouts to study a prospect they actually have a realistic chance of drafting.
Again, maybe this was just a PR stunt in terms of not having to answer questions about why they didn’t send draft representatives to scout a supposed generational QB talent, but the bottom line is that this move was the epitome of meaningless.
