Patriots Seeking Toughness; Here’s How They’re Measuring It

Toughness is the buzz word for the New England Patriots this offseason.

It’s come from Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo, de facto general manager Eliot Wolf and new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, especially when the three are describing what they are looking for when assessing this year’s crop of top quarterback prospects in the NFL Draft.

“The thing about quarterbacks for me, look, everyone wants the big arm, the mobility, and things like that,” Mayo told reporters Tuesday from the NFL Scouting Combine, per team-provided video. “But I do think it’s important to just get a good sense of what type of competitor they are, their toughness and things like that. Those are things you really want to look for.”

But unlike arm strength or passing accuracy, measuring toughness isn’t as quantifiable. But Mayo revealed how the Patriots are gauging a player’s toughness with New England expected to take a quarterback with the No. 3 overall pick.

“It’s hard,” Mayo said. “One thing I would say is the film. So, you get on the film and you kind of talk through things. You want to see how they respond to adversity on the field. And honestly, you want to talk about some of the adversity they had off the field as well.”

It’s clear that toughness will be a talking point for Mayo and the Patriots when they meet with Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels in Indianapolis. Daniels arguably faced the most adversity out of the trio in his college career, transferring out of Arizona State after three underwhelming seasons before going on to win this year’s Heisman Trophy.

That perhaps might give Daniels a leg up, but Maye played through an ankle injury this past season while Williams showed he could shoulder the pressure of playing at two powerhouse programs.

Whether it’s toughness or any other trait, the Patriots surely will be looking at it all when potentially drafting their next franchise quarterback.