Quarterback quest new for Pats, but familiar for AFC East foes
For the first time in 19 years, New England will enter season without Brady as the obvious starting QB
NEW YORK — Welcome to the club, Patriots.
You know, that unsettling feeling over not being sure who your starting quarterback will be this season, next year — or beyond. Just ask New England’s AFC East rivals about it. Miami, Buffalo and the New York Jets have lived through that frustrating uncertainty for much of this century.
For the first time since 2001, the Patriots
will enter a season without Tom Brady as the clear-cut starter under center. Even during Brady’s four-game suspension to begin the 2016 season, Bill Belichick’s bunch knew he’d be back in Week 5.
In that same span, the rest of the AFC East has resembled the turnstiles at Penn Station, starting a combined 55 players at quarterback.
It’s no wonder the Patriots won the division title 17 times in the Brady era.
Well, the six-time Super Bowl champion and three-time NFL MVP will be in
Tampa Bay this season to lead Bruce Arians’ Buccaneers after signing a two-year,
$50 million contract that’s fully guaranteed. So, the search for a signal caller is on for the Patriots.
Maybe it’ll be 34-year-old veteran Brian Hoyer, who signed a one-year deal with New England — after serving as Brady’s backup during two previous stints in Foxboro.
It could be Jarrett Stidham, a fourthround pick out of Auburn last year who threw four passes as a rookie — including one that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by the Jets’ Jamal Adams in a blowout win by the Patriots.
It won’t be one-time Browns starter Cody Kessler, who was on New England’s roster last year but was released Wednesday.
Maybe Belichick doesn’t have his Week 1 starter on hand yet.
Either way, this isn’t something the Patriots or their fans are used to. Since Brady took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe and made his first start on Sept. 30, 2001 — a 44-13 win over Peyton Manning and the Colts at old Foxboro Stadium — only three other players have started at quarterback for New England:
◆ Matt Cassel: 15 games in 2008, when Brady injured his knee in the season opener.
◆ Jimmy Garoppolo (two) and Jacoby Brissett (two): in 2016, when Brady was suspended by the NFL for the first four games for his role in the deflated footballs scandal.
The Jets have used 16 players at the position since the start of the 2001 season, the Bills 19 and the Dolphins 20.
New York believes it has its franchise quarterback in Sam Darnold, but it has been there before during Brady’s reign with the likes of Chad Pennington, Mark Sanchez and Geno Smith failing to have sustained stretches of success and/or health.