Filling in for a Great, Who Covers for Brady?

I have mixed feelings on Deflategate. Whilst I feel that the Patriots are guilty of a breach of rules, I feel the punishment is a tad harsh. That’s all you’ll get from me about this subject here. If you want to deeper opinions from the Gents, check out Simon’s post (here) and the podcast that will be up later in the week.

What I thought I’d do, would be look at the possible QBs that the Patriots could be looking at to replace Brady for the 1st 4 games of the 2015 season. Let’s start with the obvious.

Jimmy Garoppolo

Undoubtedly taken over from Tim Tebow as the most famous backup in the league, Garoppolo has a hell of a task ahead of him. Garoppolo is no slouch. Considered a hot future prospect coming out of college, he was put in a near perfect situation, sitting behind arguably the greatest QB of all time. After a year of clipboard holding, with only the odd blowout victory seeing him take the field. This rings true for pretty much anyone coming into the job, but Garoppolo will be in a decent position to succeed, behind a solid offensive line and with a mismatch nightmare in Gronk. As long as Garoppolo can limit the silly mistakes, he should be productive. Although I can’t help but feel Shane Vereen would have been useful in this situation.

Zach Mettenberger

The Patriots will undoubtedly have to bring someone in for the first 4 games of the season, regardless of whether they will definitely go with Garoppolo. Mettenberger had earlier this year been described by the Titans as a “poor man’s Tom Brady”, which you can look at however you want, but then remember they decided to go with a rookie over this so called “poor man’s Tom Brady”. That being said the Patriots did show interest in Mettenberger last year, bringing him in for an interview. If you are a regular reader here, you’ll know that I actually quite like the Titans QB and don’t believe that he’s been given a fair shot. Mettenberger behind a line as good as the Patriots could be good for both parties here, especially if he comes in and lights it up, which I believe he probably could, then the Patriots could trade him to one of the many teams that are desperate for a half decent QB. This however only works if the Patriots can pick him up for a later round pick. Where Mettenberger could prove himself is his ability to spread the ball between receivers which he did pretty well with the Titans limited resources. Being behind a better offensive line and being asked do less, could see a Zach Mettenberger, who could have a shot at a starting job on another team.

Mike Glennon

As much as I’ve been raving about Mettenberger, I’ve raved about Glennon. Glennon has never really been given a fair crack at the Bucs starting job. The Patriots could become an advertising agency for Glennon. Like Mettenberger if Glennon can come into the Patriots and light it up, he could find himself challenging for a starting role on another team. Glennon was a far safer option than Mettenberger last year. Glennon threw for 10 touchdowns, but only 6 interceptions, with the big issue being sacks of which left him hitting the ground 16 times over 6 games, which says more about the Bucs offensive last year than Mettenberger. Glennon generally targeted the centre of the field with an average yardage per pass of 7 yards. Glennon could work really well with Gronk and Edelman as well as being the guy that comes in simply not to screw it up over the 4 games.

Johnny Manziel

This was a joke… keep scrolling

Colt McCoy

This is more because of the amount of QBs on Washington’s roster than anything, but McCoy’s level of competitiveness could potentially see him do quite well in the Patriots’ offence. My main issue with this move would be that I don’t think the Patriots would get as much back for him as they would Glennon or Mettenberger. Do I think he’d do well? Yes definitely, but I have to think it’s a lot to give up for a player they wouldn’t get anything from in return.

Free Agent QBs

Let’s go through the list. Ryan Lindley, Jason Campbell, Matt Flynn, Tavaris Jackson, Michael Vick and Kyle Orton, if they can convince him to come out of retirement. That’s not a great list, with Orton being the stand out player, having worked with Josh McDaniels and that would involve convincing him to come out of retirement.

Brett Favre

This was a joke but you can never really tell…

The truth is the job is almost certainly Garoppolo’s to lose. If they get to training camp and he struggles then they have a few options, but I think he’d have to really mess it up to lose the job. Personally I’d love to see Glennon in a Pats jersey, I think if he takes control then they stand the best chance of winning those particular games, but then it becomes what they’d have to give up to get him.

Any opinions on this? Hit us up on twitter, @gridirongents and don’t forget to download the podcast