Jarrett Stidham has shown flashes of potential for the Patriots so far in preseason, and Pro Football Focus has taken notice in its quarterback grades for the first three weeks of the 2019 season.
Stidham has earned a 70.9 quarterback grade from PFF, which ranks third out of 15 rookie quarterbacks to have made at least 25 dropbacks in the preseason so far. He only trails top draft pick Kyler Murray and fifth round quarterback Easton Stick. The two trailing Stidham are sixth overall pick Daniel Jones and sixth-rounder Gardner Minshew.
While it's difficult not to take these kinds of stats with a grain of salt, would you rather have Stidham ranking towards the bottom of his quarterback class?
Over his first three games as a pro, Stidham has completed 42 of his 62 pass attempts (69.4 percent) for 506 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He's developed chemistry with rookie wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, and could be the frontrunner for the backup quarterback job over Brian Hoyer.
According to PFF, no quarterback in the preseason has a lower uncatchable pass rate (9.1 percent) than Stidham. So not only is he completing a high rate of his throws, but the passes he misses aren't off by much.
Ideally, the Patriots won't have to see Stidham take the field during the regular season, so these reps are what they'll have to evaluate for the time being. And the returns are very good so far.
New England Patriots
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