Bill Belichick Ensures Patriots Will Be Better Than Fading Tom Brady

Tom Brady is part of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers now. He signed a two-year deal with the team, and he will turn 43 in August. Did the Bucs risk a lot by signing the greatest quarterback of all time? According to some analysts, the Patriots made a good decision to let “fading” Tom Brady go.

Head coach Bill Belichick probably had a few good reasons to give up on his favorite player. Second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham is one of the reasons Coach B had to let Brady sign with the Buccaneers.

Stid the Kid is a former four-star high school recruit. He was a candidate to go first overall in the NFL draft before a terrible final year in college. Many would blame this failure on the situation. Stidham transferred from Baylor and coach Art Briles was fired back then. The quarterback sat out an entire season and joined an Auburn offense that didn’t quite fit his skills. Stidham has been receiving words of praise for his accuracy, size, arm strength and decision-making skills. It turns out that he was a good pick for coach Belichick last season.

Will the Patriots be better off without “fading” Tom Brady?

Many would describe Stidham as “a gym rat” with a high football IQ. His teammates have nothing but words of praise for him. Devin McCourty likes him a lot. Stidham stands at 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds. His college YPA (9.6) and breakout age (19.1) were dubbed phenoms. Stidham reminds us of someone. Can you make any guesses?

To make things even better, we’d add that Stidham can run. He rushed for 1,790 yards and 29 touchdowns in high school in Texas. Stidham also recorded 175 rush attempts in the final two years of college. In the preseason as a rookie player, Stidham ran 17 times for 88 yards. Does it get any better than that? The quarterback finished second in PFF’s adjusted completion percentage metric in the preseason. In other words, he is definitely a good fit for Belichick’s team. Was this the reason Belichick had to let Brady go and trust Stidham? We’ll find out in September. Stidham has so much to work on at the moment.