Pats trade QB Stidham to Vegas
Also send 7th-rounder in return for 6th-rounder
The Patriots traded backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham and a seventhround pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for a sixth-round pick Thursday, according to reports.
Stidham is in the final year of his contract after being selected in the fourth round of the 2019 draft out of Auburn. He never developed past being a backup in New England, despite competing for the starting job in the summer of 2020 with Cam Newton. After recovering from back surgery in August, Stidham did not appear in a game last season.
Over eight career games with the Pats, he completed 24 of 48 passes for 270 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions. Stidham played in three games as a rookie, all coming off the bench, then five more in 2020, each as a reserve.
In Las Vegas, Stidham will reunite with former Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, the Raiders’ first-year head coach, and former New England executive Dave Ziegler, their new GM. Meanwhile, the Pats create almost $1 million in cap room by offloading Stidham. The Patriots are scheduled to play at Las Vegas in a prime-time Sunday night game on Dec. 18.
Stidham’s exit was seen as only a matter of time once the Patriots drafted Western Kentucky quarterback Bailey Zappe in the fourth round of this year’s draft. Zappe joined backup Brian Hoyer, who recently re-signed on a two-year deal, and starter Mac Jones in the team’s quarterbacks room.
Sports Illustrated first reported the Patriots and Raiders were close to a deal, after 98.5 The Sports Hub radio producer James Stewart tweeted he heard Stidham was headed to Las Vegas via trade Thursday morning.
‘Different energy’ for 2022
Jalen Mills wishes he could have written a different script for himself and the Patriots when reflecting on their blowout playoff loss at Buffalo last January.
Because he tested positive for COVID-19 days earlier and couldn’t test out of the league’s revised protocols, Mills was unavailable for the eventual 47-17 defeat.
“Me as a competitor, I definitely wanted to be out there competing with my guys regardless of the situation,” he told reporters during a video conference Thursday. “(I wish) it didn’t happen like that.”
And yet, he’s not using the loss as motivation. Mills is turning the page.
“That situation is what it is. It was last year,” he said. “Totally different locker room now … totally different energy. We’re looking forward to this 2022 season and what we have at stake.”
For his part, Mills said he’s feeling more comfortable entering his second season with the Patriots because of his familiarity with the defense and his teammates.
“Just going over the plays, going over the installs, my mind isn’t wandering and I’m asking 100 questions,” Mills said. “Now I’m asking 50 questions instead of 100 within the scheme.”
Mills, Smart go way back
Judging by their greentinged locks, Mills and Celtics guard Marcus Smart could be cousins.
As it turns out, they were actually schoolmates growing up in Texas.
“You know what’s crazy? I actually went to school with Marcus Smart in Dallas in like the fifth or sixth grade,” Mills said when asked about Smart during a video conference Thursday. “Everybody knew back then he was going to be a pro in basketball cause he was like dunking back then.
“He wound up transferring,” Mills added about the Celtics star, “but we’re from the same part of town.”
Smart is from Flower Mound, Texas, while Mills was born in Dallas. Both are 28 years old. Mills went on to play college ball at LSU, while Smart played at Oklahoma State.
Mills said he’s “dialed in” to the Celtics’ secondround playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks and the NBA postseason as a whole. Even though the Dallas
Mavericks are still alive, Mills said he was pulling for the “home” team in Boston.
“They’re playing good team ball. Everybody’s doing their job,” Mills said of the Celtics.
More importantly, his reaction to Smart’s hair?
“Awesome.”
Pats claim TE Sokol
The Patriots claimed former Lions tight end Matt Sokol off waivers Wednesday.
The 26-year-old tight end signed a future contract with Detroit in January and was released on Tuesday. He spent the entire 2021 season on the Jaguars’ practice squad. Sokol has appeared in two career games, both in 2020 with the Chargers.
Sokol, 6-foot-5 and 249 pounds, entered the league
as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State in 2019. He split his rookie season between the Chargers and Jaguars, then inked his first future contract with Detroit, where he was cut and re-signed to the practice squad in September 2020. That led to another release, which brought him back to Los Angeles and the first and only 15 offensive snaps of his career.
The 26-year-old joins Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith and 2020 third-round picks Devin Asiasi and Dalton Keene in the team’s tight ends room.
Army-Navy at Gillette?
The annual Army-Navy game might be coming to Foxboro, according to a report from NBC 10’s Joe Kayata.
The Kraft Sports and Entertainment Group entered a multi-year bid to host the event between 2023-27, and Gillette Stadium is a finalist to host the event one of those years.
It marks the third time Kraft Sports has put in a bid and the group is hopeful of landing the prestigious event.