What is Jarrett Stidham's game?

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What is Jarrett Stidham’s game?

Tom Brady’s heir apparent wasn’t Matt Cassel. It wasn’t Ryan Mallett. And it wasn’t Jimmy Garoppolo. 

Nope. The winner of the seemingly endless battle is Jarrett Stidham, who was 5 years old when Brady won his first Super Bowl in February 2002.

Stidham, 23, spent his rookie season backing up the ageless Brady. He completed three of his four regular season passes, including one to Jets safety Jamal Adams, who returned it for a touchdown. But, we saw the Auburn product play well enough in the preseason for Belichick to cut longtime backup Brian Hoyer in favor of Stidham.

In four exhibition games, the fourth-round pick completed 61 of 90 passes (67.8%) for 731 yards (182.8 per game), four touchdowns and one interception.

Watching back all of Stidham’s preseason snaps (thank you, NFL Game Pass), he looked like most promising young quarterbacks. There were flashes where he was capable, but there were miscues where he was overmatched. As a whole, it was a productive first foray into professional football. Now, it’s for real. He’ll likely be starting Week 1 for a Patriots team filled with veterans and proven winners.

Publically, teammates have thrown support behind Stidham.

Running back James White, who has been with the Patriots since 2014:

"Expectations don't change. We're confident in Stidham. … He’s willing to learn, willing to take the coaching and keeps fighting no matter what the situation is.” 

McCourty (left) and Slater (right). Credit: NBC Sports Boston

Special teams captain Matthew Slater, a Patriot since 2008:

“Stid is a great kid, and I think that’s the thing that is going to matter the most with any player – who is he as a man, who is he as a person, what’s he motivated by?” special teams captain Matthew Slater said. “He’s just a great kid to be around. He brings a lot of positive energy, he’s always got a smile on his face, and you can tell he’s very appreciative of the opportunity that he had last year and the opportunity that he’ll have going forward.”

Safety Devin McCourty, a stabilizer in the secondary since 2010:

“I think, to me, the best thing for Stiddy was he had to go against our defense every week. He didn’t have it easy. I love his poise. I would be faking a blitz sometimes and we'd make eye contact and he'd just start smiling and laughing.

"To me, there were weeks he was just on point and those were some of our best weeks as a defense mainly because Stiddy ate us up in practice leading up to the game, and I think put more pressure on us. So, I really admire just how hard he works and I've gotten to know him off the field as well. He's a really good guy. Young guy but very mature.”

Slater and McCourty both could’ve left as free agents this spring, but chose to embrace the new challenge without Brady. That alone – regardless of their words above – says a lot about what they think of Stidham’s potential.

As for the way he plays the game, here’s what to expect:

Pocket presence

Stidham was confident in standing in the pocket, which is notable for two reasons.

First, lots of young players aren’t courageous enough – especially in their first preseason – to do so. In a few instances, he avoided a heavy rush and still got the ball out on time and on target:

Stidham was heavily pressured in that Week 3 game against the Panthers. He was sacked five times. Part of that was the backup O-line unit the Patriots employed once Stidham entered. But it can also be attributed to indecisiveness. Tom Brady made a living by getting rid of the ball quickly. The best way to combat any O-line questions is to do that, and that’s something Stidham must learn.

Back to the original point – the second reason Stidham’s pocket presence is notable is because he is capable of running. When a quarterback knows he has the ability to create plays with his legs, he often relies on that and doesn’t stand strong in the pocket. Once they figure out how to balance passing and running, they become truly dangerous. It’s a stretch to say Stidham already has that figured out, but he had moments. 

New England will never see another pocket passer like Brady. I feel pretty safe saying that. But Stidham showed he is capable of standing in and making tough throws. When he had a clean pocket against the Panthers – which wasn’t too often – he made some impressive passes.

The same was true in the Titans game a week prior:

Mobility

Pocket presence is the trait that will raise Stidham’s ceiling the highest, but his mobility is a juicy topping. It’s intriguing because Brady never had the ability to make plays with his feet, obviously. Don’t let his 1,034 career rushing yards in 20 years fool you.

Brady wasn’t mobile as a scrambler, but he was nifty moving in the pocket and avoiding pressure. Stidham showed that throughout the preseason. On most instances, when he left the pocket he took off and ran past the line of scrimmage.

There was one play, however, where he escaped pressure and made a pretty throw on the run:

One thing to note with most of Stidham’s runs is that they came as a result of pressure. His decision-making wasn’t always the quickest, which allowed pressure to arrive and forced him to run for his life.

Brady took 27 sacks last season, while Stidham took nine in four preseason games. Extend that out to a 16-game season and he’d be on pace for 36, which is more than Brady’s had in any season since 2015. Brady took 41 sacks in his first season starting, for what it’s worth.

Stidham showed throughout the preseason that, even when faced with pressure, he was capable of making plays:

Part of what makes his running effective is making the defense believe he might throw.

Multiple times when Stidham left the pocket to run, he used the pump fake to freeze defenders and salvage extra yards.

Running with a young quarterback isn’t always good, though. They are certainly more prone to fumbles, and I saw that on display in one instance. Ball security is key in any offense.

He’s no Lamar Jackson with his legs, but he’s also no Tom Brady. Being somewhere in between isn’t such a bad thing.

Short throws within the system

So much of Brady’s success came because of the system Josh McDaniels runs. Often, there are check down options available if the secondary is in good coverage. That’s what makes guys like James White – and, previously, Kevin Faulk and Shane Vereen – so important.

Check downs, screen passes and crossing routes are a young quarterbacks best friend. They are safe, low-risk throws that are highly-likely to be completed. Completing these easy passes is also a good way to get a guy in rhythm.

The system can be simple. Drop back, step up in the pocket and hit the man over the middle. Score, rinse, repeat. It’s not always that way, obviously, but putting Stidham in those positions will serve him well.

Seriously, how many times have we seen Brady make a throw to these spots:

They aren’t game-breaking plays, but they move the chains and eat clock. When you’ve got a dominant defense, this is what you have to do. The less time the opposing offense gets to look at your defense the better. In turn, it’s also tiring out the opposing defense.

While McDaniels clearly made some questionable play-calls over the past few years, having him around for Stidham is huge. He knows the system after learning it for the past year, and he has experience playing with the starters in practice, as Brady often missed those sessions during the regular season.

Not afraid to take a chance 

Here’s where the Patriots might get in trouble this season.

The system is predicated on the quarterback making the smart decision. Brady’s completion percentage dropped off to 60.8 last season, his lowest since 2013 and the third-worst of his career. But completion percentage doesn’t take into account throw-aways. Brady was asked about this increasing tendency on Nov. 29 last year.

“I’m throwing it away because I don’t want to take a sack. So, I think part of it’s just you feel like you have an opportunity on the play, and if you don’t have that, then I think negative plays actually have a big impact on the game. Turnovers and negative plays I think really keep you from winning games. So, if you can drop-back pass, because I’m not really a scrambler. … I try to throw the ball away to save plays and live for the next down.”

We’ve already established that Stidham can be a scrambler. Still, it would be wise for him to integrate some throw-aways into his arsenal when necessary.

There were five Panthers defenders surrounding Jakobi Meyers when Stidham unloaded that pass. At that point, he’s got to recognize that nothing is there and throw the ball away. 

Earlier, we talked about Stidham getting in a rhythm with short passes within McDaniels’ system. That is obviously important, but he can’t become robotic with it, which I saw on the film.

Just because that’s the designed play doesn’t mean the pass has to go there. While this play worked out, he had two open receivers on the other side of the field. It seemed like the play was designed to go to the left, so he looked left and zipped the pass.

While Brady seemed like a robot at times, it was his improvisation that helped make him so great. Stidham has a ways to go in that category.

Verdict

Stidham will go through growing pains. There’s no doubt. But his raw talent – both throwing the ball down the field and scrambling – will help the Patriots immensely.

Turnovers will hurt, and the defense might suffer as a result of poor field position. That defense will keep the Patriots winning games, though. 

Stidham will do his part to win a few, but their fate rests on his ability to take care of the ball. If he can throw fewer than 12 interceptions – something Brady has done every year since 2011 – the Patriots should be a playoff team.

The 23-year-old has a bright future in the NFL. It seems like the Patriots want that future to be in Foxboro.