Patriots' QB Situation Ranked Near Bottom of NFL By Sports Illustrated

After two decades of having one of the best quarterbacks situations in the NFL, the New England Patriots now have more questions than answers at that position as the post-Tom Brady era begins.

Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer are the two players projected to battle it out this summer for the starting quarterback job in New England, which is about as questionable as it gets in terms of potential results from that position for any NFL team in 2020. But where does the Patriots' QB situation rank amongst the other teams in the league? SI.com's Connor Orr ranked each team's quarterback situation prior to the 2020 NFL Draft, and has New England ranked as 28th in the league.

Here is what Orr had to say about ranking the Patriots' QB situation near the bottom of the NFL:

It was difficult to place the Patriots, given that we don’t know much about Stidham or Bill Belichick’s grand plan to replace Tom Brady. To be clear, I fully expect the Patriots to win the AFC East this year, which would, in time, make this one of the best quarterback situations in the league. Stidham, just 23, has a cap hit of $833,000 this year.

To put the Patriots' ranking into perspective, they are ranked only above the Broncos (29), Dolphins (30), Redskins (31), and Jaguars (32). In front of New England in the rankings are the Bengals (27), Giants (26) and Chargers (25).

Hoyer has five years of experience in the Patriots' system, but has only thrown 45 passes total in those five years during a meaningful game (i.e. in the regular season). Outside of that, he does have starting experience, having played at least five games as the starting QB for the Browns, Texans, Bears, 49ers. His best run of success as a starter came in 2015 with Houston in which he threw for 2,606 yards, 19 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. Unfortunately, the success he had one the field that year didn't save him a roster spot for the following season, as the Texans cut him just days before the 2016 NFL Draft.

As for Stidham, he doesn't even have a smidge of the NFL experience Hoyer has. The former Auburn QB has thrown four total passes in the regular season, completing two of them and also tossing an interception. His preseason stats as a rookie last season were impressive, however. In four preseason games, Stidham completed 67% of his passes for 731 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

Based on overall potential, Stidham is the betting favorite to win the starting job this summer. As a fourth round draft pick in 2019, his ability on the football field has been praised by numerous coaches and teammates in New England, which leads one to think that Hoyer is nothing more than a security net in the event that Stidham doesn't pan out like the coaching staff hopes.

There's a chance New England could draft a quarterback later this month, which would be wise so they could give themselves as many cheap, but talented options as possible at the position. But based on their current situation at the position, Orr's ranking of the Patriots' QB situation is fair based on the uncertainty regarding the players involved.