Jeff Howe on things to watch for in spring training QBs:
There’s a seemingly endless scroll of things to watch Thursday as the
New England Patriots open the doors for practice at Gillette Stadium.
It’s the first of six scheduled spring practices in front of the media and the initial opportunity to assess the retooled roster. They’ll also open voluntary organized team activity practices to the media June 4 and 10 as well as mandatory minicamp June 14-16.
Let’s run through a list of 56 things to watch over the course of these six practices, but it’s also important to keep a couple factors in mind. First, consistency is key. Thursday marks the Patriots’ third practice of the week, and seven of their 10 OTA practices will happen behind closed doors.
As such, trends are more significant than anything that happens in one practice. For example, if a certain running back commands the most reps Thursday, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the locked-in starter. It could just signal it’s his turn in the rotation. But if something becomes a trend – strong or poor performances, or remaining in a specific spot on the depth chart – that’s worthy of more stock.
Second, attendance is largely unknown. The Patriots have stated a number of players have decided to skip the voluntary practices, but it’s unclear who is in that group. Plus, it’s not uncommon for players to miss a day for personal reasons. And if anyone is injured, the Patriots have historically taken a conservative approach in the spring, opting for rehab over field time.
Again, just keep those things in mind as you read through here. Some of these questions might not get answered Thursday or even in the coming weeks, but they’re pressing topics now and through training camp, which opens July 28.
Quarterbacks
1. It’s
Cam Newton’s job until proven otherwise. The Patriots went into the offseason believing Newton could improve with more help around him, and it’s indisputable that help now exists with the additions of
Jonnu Smith,
Hunter Henry,
Nelson Agholor and
Kendrick Bourne. But the team also knew Newton would have to make his own improvements with his reads and accuracy. Perhaps both come with a normal offseason. If Newton puts together a series of strong performances in the coming weeks, he’ll build a solid cushion between himself and
Mac Jones.
2. However, Jones is going to compete. He’s going to have a sound understanding of the offense, and he’s got the necessary accuracy to deliver the ball over the middle of the field to Smith, Henry, Agholor, Bourne and
Jakobi Meyers. Then again, where is Bill Belichick starting Jones? It’d be a fairly significant surprise if he’s the No. 2 option at this stage. But is he No. 4? And if so, can he climb that ladder this spring? Belichick doesn’t ever make it easy on the rookies, but he’s also never selected a quarterback in the first round.
3. Will the Patriots see the
Jarrett Stidham from 2019 or 2020? He was terrific throughout his rookie offseason, but Stidham had a nightmare four-day competition against Newton last year in training camp, marred by interceptions and a hip injury. It’s unclear what the Patriots have planned for Stidham beyond Labor Day – keep, trade, try to sneak onto the practice squad, whatever. But at minimum, they’d like him to play well enough to have every option on the table.
4. Brian Hoyer was surprisingly re-signed this month. He’ll be a valuable mentor to Jones – not that Newton wouldn’t be, but keeping Hoyer might give Newton more freedom to solely focus on starting and winning games in the present. As for the question of why not just hire Hoyer as an assistant coach? Hoyer said a couple years ago that he had no interest in coaching after his career. Sometimes, that changes after players have been out of the game for a few years, but I’m not aware of any change in heart at the moment.
5. The quarterback reps will be a major juggling act for the coaching staff, particularly as it relates to dispersing reps among four players. They’ve typically preferred to divvy up the reps between two quarterbacks – even in 2016, Jacoby Brissett didn’t get any first-team reps until Week 3 when he pressed into starting action. Last summer, they had a fairly even split among Newton, Stidham and Hoyer through four practices but ultimately prioritized Newton in the condensed schedule. Will Newton monopolize the reps in the coming weeks? Will there be a fair dispersal? Will the fourth QB be at a severe disadvantage? This will be telling for a number of storylines.
Running backs
6. Let’s not overly dramatize this group for now. There’s simply very little to assess with the running game during non-contact practices.
7. Sony Michel missed time in each of his previous three offseasons due to surgery, so his availability could go a long way toward his development.
8. Ditto for
Damien Harris, though his missed time has happened in both training camps. Still, his presence would be a boost.
9. The screen game last season was inconsistent due to Newton’s accuracy issues. His lack of passing chemistry with
James White in training camp seemed to foreshadow those woes, so let’s see if there’s an effort to improve that now.
10. Rhamondre Stevenson was dubbed by his Oklahoma coaches as a high-end pass blocker and route runner, so we’ll see how that translates to the NFL (though not so much in the blocking aspect right now).
11. Don’t forget about J.J. Taylor. If he shows out, the Patriots could conceivably move Stevenson into Brandon Bolden’s special teams role.
12. If the Patriots go the traditional fullback route, it’s Jakob Johnson against Dan Vitale.
13. Otherwise, if the Patriots feel the need to get creative, they could utilize
Dalton Keene as an H-back, splitting him between tight end and fullback the way he was at Virginia Tech. It’s not ideal to roster four tight ends, but if they do, they might prefer to do it at the expense of a full-time fullback. Otherwise, the Patriots might have to trade Keene or Devin Asiasi, and there’s no reason to think they’d recoup either’s third-round price tag from 2020.