QB of the Indefinable Future

The biggest takeaway from Jimmy Garoppolo’s professional debut wasn’t the stat line. His numbers were certainly impressive but in case you haven’t heard a million times already, he was playing against scrubs. No, the most noteworthy aspect of Garoppolo’s performance was that the moment didn’t look too big for him. Unlike Ryan Mallett, Garoppolo looked like he was born for this.

 

Preseason games often come with the “meaningless” prefix but this was anything but, not only for Garoppolo but for Bill Belichick as he constructs the 2014 roster. Based on Garoppolo’s poor performance in training camp, it seemed a foregone conclusion New England would need to carry three quarterbacks, sacrificing a roster spot that could’ve gone to an extra position player.

The Patriots have a number of intriguing young players in camp, including RB Roy Finch, WR’s Jeremy “The Invisible Man” Gallon and overnight sensation Brian Tyms*, TE Justin Jones, DE Zach Moore and CB’s Malcolm Butler and Daxton Swanson. One extra roster spot won’t save all of them but it seems unlikely any of these guys would make it through waivers to the practice squad. The Jets, Dolphins and Bills will gladly take anyone the Patriots cut and why not? New England is the gold standard of the AFC East. They’re Top 10 if not Top 5 across the entire NFL. That means at least twenty-two teams are trying to catch them. If you were the GM for the Jacksonville Jaguars, wouldn’t you be checking out the players waived by the Patriots (and the Seahawks, 49ers, Broncos, Packers and Saints)?

If Belichick is going to keep any of the players listed above, he’s going to need a spot on the final 53. (*Except for Tyms, of course, who will start the season serving a four-game ban for violating the NFL’s PED policy.) If Belichick keeps Mallett and Garoppolo, one of those intriguing guys is gone.

That’s one reason why Garoppolo’s performance Thursday night was so big.

It was also bigger than one roster spot on the 2014 New England final 53.

There isn’t a citizen of Patriots Nation that even wants to consider the possibility of a Tom Brady injury. I’ve noted previously that it really doesn’t matter who trots onto the field after Brady is carted off the field. After last Thursday night I’ve changed my mind. I hope Brady doesn’t miss a start until he retires but if he does, I want to see Jimmy Garoppolo putting on his helmet.

In fairness to Ryan Mallett, Matt Cassel looked awful in the 2008 preseason but when Brady went down in the season opener, he came on to play well enough to help the Patriots to an 11-5-0 finish. I’m sure Belichick tailored the playbook to Cassel’s strengths in 2008 and would do the same for Mallett should the unthinkable happen in 2014. Watching Garoppolo’s debut, it seems to me Belichick and McDaniels wouldn’t need to do nearly as much tinkering.

Then there’s the obvious.

Ryan Mallett is not the QB of the Future for the New England Patriots.

There are a combination of factors at work here. Mallett is in the last year of his contract and the Patriots drafted his apparent replacement in Garoppolo. Bill Belichick was not planning to re-sign Ryan Mallett, he was planning to replace him. The working assumption has always been that Mallett would move on for a chance to start somewhere else in 2015 rather than re-sign to back up Brady (who looks perfectly capable of playing at a high level into his 40s). There’s also the ineluctable fact that Mallett is a poor fit for the Patriots offense, which is based on quick decisions and short to intermediate passing plays.

Mallett’s performance Thursday night was a lose-lose. Mallett failed to impress 31 NFL general managers as a potential starter. The Patriots failed to develop even 6^th round trade value for Mallett. This is where Belichick’s reputation as a hard-nosed – if not hard-headed – businessman may work against him. Most teams would hold onto Mallett unless they could get their price. There’s a real possibility that when those final cuts have to be made August 30^th, and it’s down to Mallett vs. Roy Finch or Zach Moore or Justin Jones, Belichick will make a decision that he feels is in the best interest of the team.

Would any of us making mortgage payments in Patriots Nation be shocked if that final cut was Ryan Mallett?

Maybe Jimmy Garoppolo turns out to be Brian Hoyer 2.0. My feeling is that’s Garoppolo’s floor, not his ceiling. Of course, if Brady has his way, we may never know.