The Patriots have not signed a backup, backup, backup quarterback, even though their backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and their backup, backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett both suffered injuries in the past two games. While some have speculated that the team might sign little-known, un-drafted free agent Dom Grady, Belichick and his coaching staff of apparent football geniuses haven’t drawn up contracts for him or anyone else. Nor do they seem likely to do so.
ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio gave some insight into the situation on Sunday Night Football:
“Signing another quarterback is regarded, as I’m told, a last resort for the Patriots because, No. 1 they don’t want to have to cut somebody to create a roster spot for a quarterback, but No. 2 they actually would prefer to go with a Julian Edelman, even though he hasn’t played quarterback since college, because he knows the offense inside and out.”
It’s seeming likely that either Garoppolo or Brissett will be in decent-enough shape to start in the Patriots’ Week 4 match-up against the Buffalo Bills (Garoppolo suffered a sprain to his AC joint during the game against the Dolphins, and Brissett hurt his thumb last Thursday against the Texans). I have a hard time believing that, if both were definite no-gos, Belichick wouldn’t have bit the bullet and signed someone like Matt Flynn or Ryan Lindley, who’ve both trained with the Patriots, to serve as a stop gap. Or even Michael Vick. He’s around.
AP Photo/Stew Milne
So while signs point to one of the designated QBs taking the field this week, there’s a chance — albeit a small one — that this could be wide receiver Julian Edelman’s time to suit up and lead his fellow Patriots into battle. Even if he doesn’t start, he could be called upon to relieve either of the injured QBs if they need to come out of the game.
Neither Belichick nor Edelman would confirm that Edelman is the fourth-stringer. He did play quarterback in college at Kent State, but it’s not hard to build a case against him at that position. He completed only 153 of 275 passes in college in 2008, using his time at quarterback more as a way to show off his potential for playing other positions rather than to shine in that one (it worked — Belichick noticed). Edelman’s run game was good, but he can’t really throw the way a quarterback should be able to throw. Also, if he got hurt — say, if the Bills have gotten better at blitzing by the time the game rolls around — the Pats would lose one of their star receivers in an avoidable circumstance.
But starting Edelman — and managing to win with him — at quarterback would be Belichick out-Belichicking himself. As my colleague Nate Scott wrote last week, the beauty of the Patriots’ offense is that it’s built to be insanely multi-faceted. It’s like the Ikea furniture of football; they have certain parts that they can use, whether they’re building a coffee table or a bed frame. Need Rob Gronkowski to block as LeGarrette Blount runs? Cool, he can do that. Need him out wide so he can catch? He can do that, too. So can Martellus Bennett. The team is extremely nimble.
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Edelman is like one of those ridged, rounded pegs — you know the ones — that Belichick would just be borrowing from a dresser to use to build a night table. It would still probably hold together: Focus on the running game, with a plan that would most likely be “get the ball to Blount ASAP,” and you’ve still got a pretty chance at scoring touchdowns. It wouldn’t be too terribly different from the offense the Patriots ran with Brissett at quarterback. With a strong defense backing it up, that seemed to work out pretty well.
As Florio said, Edelman definitely knows the Patriots’ various offensive strategies better than anyone you’d bring in from the outside. And by using what he already has, Belichick wouldn’t have to cut guys to get someone he’d only (hopefully) need for one game.
It’s also far from the end of the world if the Patriots lose on Sunday. When the season began, most people were hypothesizing the Patriots would go 2-2. Some said that would be a best case scenario: Garoppolo hadn’t started in an NFL game before, and Brissett wasn’t really on anyone’s radar as someone who’d actually have to step in and save the day. But both turned out to be very impressive, Belichick might’ve made a deal with the devil somewhere along the way, and the Patriots are currently undefeated with two injured backups and a missing star by the name of Tom Brady.
So at this point, it’s like we’re watching Belichick build furniture Ikea doesn’t even list on the website. It’s proving to be pretty sturdy. Why not see how strong the Edelman peg is?
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