How Jarrett Stidham's Injury Impacts Patriots' QB Competition
On Friday it was reported that New England Patriots second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham had suffered a hip injury and would not be 100 percent healthy for several weeks.
This does not bode well for Stidham's chances of being the Week 1 starter. Stidham, Cam Newton and Brian Hoyer are in the midst of a competition to be the Patriots' Week 1 starting quarterback. And while none of them were overly impressive during the first week of padded practices, Jarrett Stidham was the worst of the three, particularly in the turnovers department, as he threw seven interceptions during team drills according to those on scene for the practices.
Newton was the projected starter heading into training camp, and Stidham's weak start to camp and injury have kept the 2015 MVP cemented in that No. 1 spot. Hoyer has been a serviceable option through the first week of Phase Two of training camp, but Newton's athleticism and ability as a thrower outweighs what Hoyer brings to the table, regardless of how few mistakes Hoyer makes during training camp.
If Stidham wants to keep himself in the race to be the Week 1 starter, he'll need to get back to practicing in full capacity as soon as possible. After a rough start to training camp, Stidham needs to prove he can learn from his experiences over the past week and not make the same mistakes moving forward. If he can do that, then he is very much still in the conversation to be the Week 1 starter. However, if he continues to struggle moving forward, whether it be because of inexperience or injury, then Newton will run away with the starting quarterback job in no time.
Stidham—a 2019 fourth-round pick—was already fighting an uphill battle this summer in terms of trying to win the starting job. Now he has some more adversity to overcome with his hip injury.
If Stidham is able to bounce back and keep himself in the conversation to be the Patriots' starting quarterback, that says a heckuva lot in terms of his ability to step up and overcome adversity. But if he doesn't, then the Auburn product will have to watch from the sidelines again when the regular season begins, and try to win the starting job again in 2021.
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