New England Patriots: How Matthew Stafford actually helped team

It has been reported that Matthew Stafford who was traded to the LA Rams from the Detroit Lions would not have accepted a trade to the New England Patriots. Patriots fans should be thankful for small favors.

Though a lot was made of this supposed refusal to accept a trade to Foxborough only, Stafford is not the quarterback for the Patriots and would have been a wasted opportunity to energize a strategy that actually makes sense.

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In addition, just think of the many feet of snow that Stafford is passing up to go to a droll, dull, lifeless, warm, sunny Los Angeles anyway. He doesn’t know what he’s missing.

Back to the point, Stafford has never been more than a middle of the road quarterback anyway. With a career completion percentage of 62.63 (in fairness he’s been better in the past six years), that type of production can easily be gleaned elsewhere.

Also, with 282 touchdowns to 144 interceptions, New England Patriots fans shouldn’t be shedding any tears about Stafford taking his talents to the left coast instead of the best coast.

Frankly, who cares. That’s not the direction in which the Patriots should go. The soon-to-be 33-year-old is a much poorer option than re-signing Cam Newton to a shorter-term contract would be.

Contrary to general opinion, the facts say that Newton had a solid year for the New England Patriots with an objectively pitiful supporting cast.

And, as had been pointed out previously, he had a better completion percentage than the starting quarterback for the NFC in the Super Bowl without hardly any wide receivers to throw to, not to mention any tight ends and a mediocre running back room.

The Best quarterback option for the New England Patriots

Newton’s situation notwithstanding, New England needs to go all-in on drafting a good, young quarterback in the 2021 draft. This is the 2021 offseason Priority No. 1 by a mile.

This may require packaging as many of their higher picks as possible to get the right player. The aim, get the best quarterback in the draft they can pay for with draft picks and players. Just do it.

They blew a golden opportunity last season to choose Jalen Hurts from Oklahoma a dual-threat dynamo who was taken by the Eagles.

Hurts started four games for the Eagles with underwhelming passing results but proved he can run in the NFL as he did in college. He’d have been a good dual-threat option upon which to build for New England. They passed.

So this year, rather than hitch their wagon to a mid-to-late career veteran, the best and most sensible move is to draft a quarterback who has the grit and the steel in his veins to be able to handle being thrown right into the fire as the starter from day one.

Comments on who might be the best option will come later (though we can all but rule out Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields, arguably the best in the class).

Growing pains have to be acknowledged, but the case of Josh Allen in Buffalo is a good barometer on how quarterback talent can be nurtured by a good coach into a top player over a very few seasons.

Yet, no matter who the rookie quarterback choice may be, they need to expend a high first-round draft pick, theirs or another pick acquired higher up in the draft, to select their quarterback of the future.

While I’d have no issues with signing Newton to a short-term deal, the better option and one that will save millions on the cap and shorten the learning curve for the new guy will be letting him just play.

If the Patriots for once can actually make some sound offseason free agency pickups, who knows what they might actually achieve.

How Bill Belichick should approach 2021 NFL draft. dark. Next

More on the New England Patriots quarterback situation later. But the main fact is clear, they need to draft a top young thrower this offseason and mold him into their next leader. It’s as simple as that.

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