Free-agent quarterbacks like Cam Newton and Jameis Winston clearly aren’t rushing into their next landing spot.
Ryan Clark believes the New England Patriots also are playing the waiting game as it pertains to rounding out their quarterback depth chart.
Tom Brady’s departure all but surely put the Patriots in the market for a quarterback. This notion was further strengthened by the release of Cody Kessler, which left New England with just two signal-callers on its roster.
But while many expect the Patriots to fill this void via the draft next week, Clark expects Bill Belichick and Co. to tackle the open market.
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“If you look at a guy like Cam Newton, Jameis Winston, they’re going to see the market kind of dry up until after this draft, or they have seen that already happen. They’ve decided to be patient,” Clark said Tuesday on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “If you’re Bill Belichick, you can get one of these guys for the low, honestly. You can try to get them off of the clearance rack because they will need somewhere to play. I think guys like that, veteran guys, will be looking for an opportunity to win. When you look at the last two decades, there’s been no better opportunity than playing for Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. So, to me, you go through the draft, you try to build your team as much as possible and then you see which one of these veteran free-agent quarterbacks will be available. That should be your starter for Week 1 of the 2020 season.”
While things obviously can change, there’s been nothing to suggest the Patriots are looking into either Newton or Winston. In fact, we’ve only heard New England has shown “no interest” in the 2015 NFL MVP and is unlikely to sign the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer. As it stands, the Patriots seem to be all in on 2019 fourth-rounder Jarrett Stidham, who spent all of last season under Brady’s wing.
It’s a near-certainty New England will have three QBs on the roster come training camp, but it sure feels like the third will be a rookie.
