New England Patriots: Evaluating AFC East quarterback competition

Michael DeVito

HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 05: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots raises the Vince Lombardi trophy after the Patriots defeat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime of Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium on February 5, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

New England Patriots and their AFC East rivals: who’s leading at the quarterback position with Tom Brady in Tampa.

For nearly 20 years, there was no question, none at all, about who was the top quarterback in the AFC East of the National Football League. It was No. 12 from the New England Patriots.

In addition, there was no question in many of those years about who was the best quarterback in the AFC and who was the best quarterback in the entire NFL. It was No. 12 from New England. The G.O.A.T. and the winningest quarterback in Super Bowl terms, ever.

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For New England, it was a very, very nice place to be. Knowing that you could build your team around a consensus star year-after-year was an enviable position to be in. Having decided not to keep that situation is quite perplexing and has been the topic of many a conjecture.

I have written that a chain of events led to the departure of that, as I have called him, greatest of “safety valves”, Tom Brady. In my opinion, many of these events were predicated upon New England’s leadership’s disrespect to this once-in-a-generation (or more) player. A poor decision, indeed.

So, it was a nice, comfortable situation for New England for almost two decades. Unfortunately, now, due to their own negligence and lack of discretion, that clear and unassailable advantage now resides in Tampa Bay.

With No. 12 gone, the playing field has changed dramatically. The answer to the question, “who is the best quarterback in the AFC East?”, was no contest. It was just conceded essentially every season since about 2001 to New England.

I’ve been exceedingly clear in pointing out that the most important position on the football field is the guy who runs the offense, the quarterback. No rocket science there, just fact. If you have the best, you have two legs up on anyone else.

So, it seems appropriate that we should take a little more serious look around the AFC East to see who’s going to compete for the top quarterback spot. Since it’s now up for grabs, the exercise in 2020 now has greater football significance.

Josh Allen

Let’s start with the second-best team in the AFC East in 2019, the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo made the playoffs last season under their excellent young coach, Sean McDermott. I give them high grades for their 2020 draft.

Through the draft, both indirectly and directly, they augmenting an already decent offense. They added super wide receiver Stefon Diggs in a trade with Minnesota and drafted Zack Moss, a tough running back from Utah.

Tua Tagovailoa

Miami decided to move on from Ryan Tannehill after 6 seasons last year as he was traded to Tennessee. The Titans received Tannehill and a 6th round pick while surrendering 4th and 7th rounders to Miami. (A great move by Mike Vrabel and Tennessee by the way.)

Miami decided to bring in journeyman, but actually, pretty effective quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and also traded for young quarterback Josh Rosen. Fitzpatrick was joining his 8th team in a 13-year career with 62% completion percentage during that span of years.

His backup was Rosen who came over from Arizona after one year having been the 10th overall pick in the 2018 draft. Rosen flopped at Arizona and did little last season in three starts for Miami. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that Miami had the 5th pick in the NFL draft and they didn’t miss the mark. They chose Tua Tagovailoa from Alabama. Tua had been injured and only played 9 games in 2019. He suffered a serious hip injury and that had to be of concern to the Dolphins.

But, assuming they did due diligence on the medicals, they have themselves one whale of a quarterback prospect. In his 9 games last season, he completed 71.4% of his passes to go along with a superlative 33 TD passes and only 3 interceptions. He’s a star in the making if healthy.

So Miami has the reliable Fitzpatrick, the veteran, and the guy who could vault them into the next generation of Dan Marino-like success in Tua. Tua will get his chance sooner rather than later once cleared by the doctors. And the rest of the AFC East will not be happy.

Sam Darnold

Now to the Jets. The New York Jets. The most “popular” opponent every year for the New England Patriots, and every game for the New England Patriots’. The history is bad. The vibes are worse. The rivalry is forever!

So, keeping in mind that this is an objective exercise, how do the Jets look in the most important position on their team? They made a big move to draft Sam Darnold 3rd overall in the 2018 NFL draft.

Darnold upped his completion percentage from 57.7 in 2018 to 61.9 in 2019. And his TD to interceptions were 17 and 15 in 2018 and 19 and 13 in 2019.

Darnold displayed steady if unspectacular improvement similar to Allen in Buffalo, and this was against NFL opposition, including twice per year against the best, with Tom Brady at their helm. Never an easy chore.

So here as in Buffalo, Darnold is progressing and if fitted out with the proposer supporting cast, we can expect better from him in 2020. And the Jets gave him some nice presents in the 2020 NFL draft to work with.

Two excellent additions that in my view would have fit nicely into New England’s new uniforms were Mehki Becton, the gargantuan offensive left tackle from Memphis, and Denzel Mims, a blazingly fast wide receiver from Baylor.

Becton is a Trent Brown-like barrier on the left side of the offensive line. His height and massive girth will be trouble for any right defensive end or weak-side linebacker next season and beyond. The Jets took him high in the first round, and he was well worth the investment.

Offensive left tackle is the second most critical component of a team, and Becton has the potential to be one of the very best. It was an atypically nice pick by the Jets.

Backing up Darnold will be David Fales and rookie James Morgan. Fales is a journeyman who doesn’t add much and Morgan is a possible sleeper drafted this season. Morgan was at times linked to New England in the draft. The Patriots did not select any quarterbacks, as is widely know.

Jarrett Stidham

I won’t go into the New England Patriots quarterback situation in any detail here. It is well-known that contrary to popular expectations (including mine) the Patriots did not draft a quarterback in 2020 even though they had lost the best ever, Tom Brady to free agency.

What they have on the roster now is Jarrett Stidham, a second-year quarterback who has thrown a whopping total of 4 NFL passes previously and journeyman Brian Hoyer along with 2 rookie undrafted free agents.

This writer has expressed great disappointment with both the lack of addressing this position and the Patriots’ not going in the RPO direction in the draft into the new era of NFL quarterbacks. But they failed to even add any quarterback to challenge the heir-apparent to Tom Brady, Jarrett Stidham. I think it was a horrendous decision. A terrible mistake.

So, where are we then in sizing up the quarterback situation in the AFC East. Here’s my take on the situation, grading from best to worst:

Buffalo Bills: I think Buffalo has a very good young quarterback in Allen and has drafted well. I think their overall situation makes them the favorite in the AFC East.
Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins have the trump card in the entire AFC East. If he can play and if they play him, I think Tua will be a terrific asset to the Dolphins immediately. They will improve substantially.
New York Jets: The Jets have a quarterback who is improving, but not yet capable of taking them to the playoffs. Adding Becton and Mims is pouring a good foundation. But they are not ready to make a move at present.
New England Patriots: New England’s reliance on an untested Jarrett Stidham (and their defense) is a super risk. They didn’t even bring in any real competition to test him. I am not expecting much from them especially since their wide receiving corps is also weak, their tight ends are untested rookies and their running backs are mediocre. Prospects on offense are not good.

So that’s my analysis of the AFC quarterback situation after the departure of Tom Brady. Buffalo is in the lead there and in the lead for the Divison title, but only at the moment.

Miami has the potential to streak ahead and stay there for years. I really like where they are headed.

Meanwhile, the New England Patriots have taken a monumental step backward and I see no real opportunity for them to excel in 2020.

Michael DeVito

Michael is a long-time New England Patriots fan. He closely follows the Patriots' offseason team-building activities, including the Patriots' Draft, Free Agency, and Undrafted Free Agency. Michael also follows all Boston sports. He is also a big fan of the Chelsea Football Club in the English Premier League.