The New England Patriots, for the second year in a row, have made a surprising move that will significantly impact the future of the team at the NFL trade deadline. Last year, Head Coach and General Manager Bill Belichick traded away LB Jamie Collins, who many believed to be the best overall player on a young Patriots’ defense. This year, the Patriots have traded QB Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers. The return? A second-round pick in the 2018 NFL draft.
This move is shocking. Adam Schefter, who is well-connected to the coaches and front office in New England, told everybody all offseason how the Patriots were not going to trade Garoppolo. He even said that if the team received an offer of FOUR FIRST ROUND picks, they wouldn’t make the move. Well, things have certainly changed. This impacts so many people and teams. Let’s look at everything.
Jimmy Garoppolo
Jimmy G finally gets his shot to be the starter for an NFL team. He’s waited four long years to get this opportunity. In the two games that Garoppolo started during Brady’s absence last year, he completed 42 of 59 attempts for 496 yards and four touchdowns before leaving with an injury during the second quarter of the Dolphins game in week two.
He’s had some success in New England, but that’s with Belichick, McDaniels, and the number one scoring defense last year. Now he’s with Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, both in their first year as Head Coach and GM respectively, and their team is 0-8.
He replaces another former Patriots QB in Brian Hoyer, who’s been a journeyman since his time backing up Brady. Jimmy is likely going to get paid handsomely to play in San Francisco in the near future.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers have been going through the motions since their rocky relationship with Colin Kaepernick began to sour. They tried Blaine Gabbert, Brian Hoyer, CJ Beathard all in such a short period of time. Garoppolo may already be the most talented QB to have played in San Francisco since 2012-13 when Kaep and their amazing defense led them to a Super Bowl appearance.
They don’t have to waste a draft pick on a QB. Before the season started Josh Rosen and Sam Darnold were getting a lot of hype to be some of the best quarterbacks entering the draft in some time. Since then, their stock has significantly fell, and some believe they may not even come out this year.
San Francisco also doesn’t have to pay a guy who like Kirk Cousins, who is good, but his ceiling is known. That’s another plus.
New England Patriots
Everybody’s been on the “Tom Brady is playing til his mid-40’s” train all year. He’s clearly dealing with some sort of injury right now, but he still looks like the best QB in the league. Whether you believe he can do it or not, the Patriots are now in need of another quarterback. They need a backup for now and a starter for the future.
There are back-ups that New England could probably get for cheap money from some team. They could throw some late-round draft picks for an arm to hold them over. If they’re willing to pay the money and make it work, they could even get back someone who knows the system (i.e. Hoyer, Cassel, or Mallett).
For the future, they will probably be selecting a QB in this year’s draft. Maybe they’ve found someone they like already, and we won’t know until May.
They will need to do something, and do it before they come back from the bye week, because Brady, whether you believe it or not, is in his 40’s.
QUESTIONS AND EVALUATION
What I’m confused about is why the Patriots didn’t make this move in the offseason. I understand that times change and your needs change, but there were reportedly better offers at the time of the draft. They’ve now traded both of their back-up QBs who’ve had some semblance of success, and they’ve received a second-round pick and a fourth WR in return. That’s not master dealing from Belichick. Garoppolo was drafted in the second-round, and he gets you another second-round pick. That’s a fair trade, but the price seems like it should have been so much higher. Unless they found out Garoppolo would never re-sign while Brady was still here. It really ends all questioning of whether or not Brady will be traded in the future, which is good for fans.
The 49ers still paid a decent price when you think about it. They have to give up a prospect who they would have under control for at least four years. Not to mention they’ll have to pay Garoppolo coming up. That is a lot to give up for a guy they could have waited on to see if he hit the market.
Garoppolo has the chance to be really good in San Francisco. If Jed York will give them the money to build a good team, they can do well. That’s what it comes down to is money and coaching. Kyle Shanahan is a question mark. Nobody truly knows how good he is at his job. He has title of “QB-whisperer” or “QB-guru” whichever played out narrative you prefer, but how good is he at running the whole operation is a different question.
The Patriots logic makes sense to me in these scenarios:
1) Garoppolo said he would never re-sign with New England while Brady is still there.
2) The Patriots are finally buying into what I said earlier this year. They haven’t hit on a lot of draft picks, and they’ve traded away others that could have helped this team for players who are no longer here (*cough* Kony Ealy *cough*). So, they want to stockpile for help in the future whether it be for Brady or the next guy.
Those are the two trains of the thought on this one.
New England will need to find someone, and Hoyer seems like the best option for the rest of this season, as he was released from San Francisco as well. They better hope Brady stays healthy, truly wants to play into his mid-40’s, and can still physically do it again, because they may have lost their best back-up since it was Brady.
P.S. You want my Patriots fan reaction. I’m confused. I’m angry. I’m disappointed. I really liked Garoppolo and wanted him to be the next guy. I’m glad he’ll get to start somewhere, but this makes the transition that much tougher from Brady to the next guy.