Patriots trading Jarrett Stidham to Raiders is Belichick’s revenge on McDaniels

In what is the first positive personnel swap between the New England Patriots and Las Vegas Raiders for Bill Belichick, quarterback Jarrett Stidham is leaving Foxborough.

Early Thursday morning, rumblings surfaced that a trade was in the works, but then a half hour went by without any further details. Was this a joke? Was Josh McDaniels pulling the ultimate troll by sending this smokescreen out to the media?

Nope, it’s all true. Per NFL insider Tom Pelissero, the Patriots are sending Stidham and a 2023 seventh-round draft pick to Las Vegas for a 2023 sixth-round pick. And just like that, the three years of Stidham speculation in New England are over.

The former Auburn star was drafted in the fourth round back in 2019 and was believed to one day (possibly) be Tom Brady’s successor … but anybody who watched him and followed the news around him knew that was never going to be the case.

Now, he’ll be the Raiders’ problem. In the process, the Patriots cleared nearly $1 million in cap space and improved next year’s late-round draft position.

The Patriots have traded QB Jarrett Stidham to the Raiders for a pick swap

So far this offseason, McDaniels has poached contributing players (Brandon Bolden), front office personnel (most recently Brandon Yeargan) and various coaches (five to be exact!) from Belichick. It’s about time the Patriots got a win with a personnel move given all they’ve lost at the hands of their former offensive coordinator at this point.

This doesn’t exactly change the complexion of the Patriots’ roster, but Stidham was essentially the definition of dead weight. He never flashed any potential (50% completion rate, 270 yards, 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions in partial action across eight games) and was constantly injured.

Back before the 2020 season, it was said the Patriots were growing frustrated with Stidham, who suffered a mysterious leg/hip injury that prevented him from logging the necessary preseason reps to compete for the starting job.

Then came Mac Jones in 2021 to further prove Stidham was never going to work out in New England. As a rookie, Jones was the top performer in his draft class and led the Patriots to the playoffs, whereas Stidham couldn’t even compete for valuable offseason reps.

He now joins a wildly crowded quarterback room in Las Vegas, and this has to be considered a gigantic win for the Patriots. They clear a roster spot, rid themselves of a headache, free up some cap space, improve their draft position next year, and don’t have to worry about any more stories asking why Stidham didn’t suit up for a particular game.

McDaniels has worked extensively with Stidham, which makes this pairing somewhat sensible, but hasn’t the head coach seen enough at this point?

Let’s call it Belichick’s revenge for the various other moves that have come at the expense of his team. Maybe he wouldn’t let McDaniels hang up the phone and kept talking to him about how much potential Stidham has shown since the former OC left for the Raiders. You just had to be here to see it, Josh.

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