Patriots' Player Profile: Quarterbacks and Why Brady's Story is Far From Finished

We are 79 days away from kick off. Seventy-nine days from buying a 30-rack for game-day and realizing you’ll only drink two of those 30 beers. Seventy-nine days from putting on that winter fat at tailgating shindigs.

Even better, we are seventy-nine days from not having to listen to ignorant sports writers talk about how Tom Brady is not a top 5 quarterback anymore. As a writer and devout follower of the team, I often feel like I go through my own dog days of summer when I’m beating over the head by writers hoping their work goes viral. Who needs training camp when you have ESPN and the World Wide Web to drag you through life with poorly researched material?

But I digress and thank you for letting me rant. I guess, get used it. After all, we are only 79 days away from kick off. Throughout the coming weeks, I will profile each position on the Patriots’ roster. Today we take a quick look at the Patriots’ quarterback situation, and we’ll start with Tom Brady. For those who believe Pro Football Focus’ latest argument that Brady is declining, I ask you the following: Why? And, what the hell are you smokin'?

Sure, he made poor decisions, but the Patriots' offensive line and receivers made more. The two groups were horrible last year. According to Pro Football Focus, the offensive line graded a -2.7 in pass blocking and a -19 in run blocking, which is a steep decline from their performance the year prior. The units were average compared to the rest of the NFL, but they likely clawed their way to that worthy status only because tight end Rob Gronkowski returned to the fold for a short time.  More so, the Patriots’ best receiver was Danny Amendola who graded out as the 34th best receiver in the league out of the 111 listed by the same web site. And let us not forget that their receiving core was in flux for almost the entire season.

I always find it odd that many critics allow quarterbacks to have bad seasons when they’re young, but not when they’re old. Like vultures, writers wait for what appears to be an elderly player, team or coach to stumble so slightly, and then they pounce. In any case, I expect Brady’s game to improve not simply because he’s Tom Brady, but because his receivers have gained more experience in the Patriots’ offensive system...

...Yet then again, would we be surprised if Josh Boyce runs the wrong route or Aaron Dobson (e.g., Aaron Drobson) fails to haul in a perfectly fine Tom Brady pass? Pro Football Focus ranked Brady number two on a list of quarterbacks who had the most dropped passes with 53. So,  maybe we'll have the same discussion next year, but Brady will be a year older and writers will feel that much more comfortable blaming it on his age. Obviously, a younger Tom Brady could make a million dollars out of a couple of pennies.

So, where do the other Patriot quarterbacks fit in with Brady's apparent decline? Well, for now, they'll continue to sit quietly in the number 2 and 3 spot. However, I do believe there may be some place for them down the line. Initially, I questioned the Patriots when they drafted quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft, but New England has always stated they take the highest graded player on the board no matter the position. In Garoppolo’s case, his grade was likely so high it would have been a mistake for them not to take him. Then, consider the uncertainty surrounding quarterback Ryan Mallet’s on-field performance and his questionable status next offseason—he’s in the last year of his contract—and it suddenly makes sense for the Patriots to select Garoppolo. The Patriots to quarterbacks are like what the old Shanahan Broncos were to running backs. Take ‘em and train ‘em baby.

While Organized Team Activities are nothing to cheer about, they are a novel’s first set of sentences, and I’d rather hook the reader with the opening line than struggle to gain their attention somewhere in paragraph five. In OTA’s, Brady has impressed and Garoppolo has taking more reps than Mallet because the latter has been absent from practice. Garoppolo’s story is far from written, but it has certainly begun. Mallet is still waiting to pick up the pen, and Brady's is far from concluding, as always.