Just moments before the Patriots took the field for their first training camp practice in full pads, head coach Bill Belichick spoke on how the quarterback unit is doing so far.
On Monday, he appeared on ESPN Radio’s “Keyshawn, JWill and Zubin Show” to give his insight. Since the departure of Tom Brady to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, questions remain as to who will step up as QB1. As of now, the group consists of newly-acquired quarterback Cam Newton, rookie Brian Lewerke, and those that played under Brady’s shadow the last two seasons: Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer.
The legendary Bill Belichick joined @keyshawn, @RealJayWilliams & Zubin, and described what it’s been like working with Cam Newton & Jarrett Stidham. pic.twitter.com/9PBwCc8UiL
— ESPN Radio (@ESPNRadio) August 17, 2020
Belichick assured the hosts that the team has a “good group” of quarterbacks that all bring different aspects to the team. Newton, specifically, has brought both energy and experience — but still needs to catch up to the team’s system.
“All the quarterbacks have been good,” Belichick said. “Brian Hoyer’s got the most experience of any of our quarterbacks in our system. Jarrett Stidham is really coming on here in Year 2. He got a great year last year in terms of learning and personal and technique development at the position. And Cam has been a late addition, but he’s brought a lot of energy and, obviously, playing experience to our room. For him, it’s catching up on the specifics of the Patriots system, terminology and so forth, which he’s worked extremely hard at. Brian Lewerke is a college free agent quarterback that is also in the room and is a developmental-type player. It’s a good group.”
Cam Newton is probably going to look at the film and want one throw back from 11-on-11s. He had Damiere Byrd open deep over the middle, with Justin Bethel in coverage, but overthrew the speedy Byrd. The silver lining, perhaps: Arm strength shows.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) August 18, 2020
Jarrett Stidham was intercepted three times. He also had one of the best throws of the day — a sideline laser to Damiere Byrd in 11-on-11 work. Nice timing between QB and WR, with protection holding up. Later, he decisively found Mohamed Sanu up right side in 11-on-11s.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) August 18, 2020
As to when the on-field competitive drills between QBs will start, Belichick expects that to happen in the next few days.
“We really haven’t had a lot of competitive opportunities — really haven’t had any,” he said. “That will really start in a couple days here, once we get into padded practices and so forth where we can really go out there and compete. It’s been a lot of learning, a lot of getting comfortable running plays multiple times in a controlled setting, so we’ll be in position to go out there and start running them competitively against our defense and evaluate how players perform.”
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