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| Is it true, have the Pats truly drafted Brady's heir apparent Jimmy! Jimmy Garoppolo? |
Well at least this year people can't complain about Bill Belichick and the Patriots trading out of the first round of the draft. It seems however there might be an entirely different issue at hand with the Pats looking 4 years ahead of time to when Tom Brady's contract comes to an end and possibly his NFL career. The addition of Jimmy Garoppolo also puts three quarterbacks on the roster because current backup Ryan Mallett was never traded to Houston like everyone expected. With former Pats offensive coordinator Bill O'Brian running the show as the Texans head coach combined with the fact that Houston's on a search for a solid starter under center it's still curious as to why Houston never pulled the trigger. Yet, O'Brian was also quoted as saying that the Texans would find their "guy" or QB in the draft, but they really didn't wow many of the 'talking heads' with their selection at the position taking
Tom Savage 6'4" 228 out of Pittsburgh in the 4th round. All that aside, Savage does has prototypical size and has been known to stand tall and shrugs off sacks. Savage is the type of player that's able to make all types of throws being a true a pocket passer, he has suffered a concussion recently, Virginia 2013, but Savage's only glaring weakness is he seems to need a clean pocket to be serviceable. Presently, it's been a week since the draft ended and Ryan Mallet is still on the New England roster, so clearly the Pats will start the season with three quarterbacks for the first time in three years, (2011 Brady, Hoyer, Mallet) unless another team's stater goes down sometime between now and September.
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| Pats 2014 2nd round selection QB Jimmy Garoppolo. |
It's not hard to understand why the Patriots took
Jimmy Garoppolo with the 62nd pick, he's a gritty competitor and a four year starter while under center at Eastern Illinois. Garoppolo fits Belichick's model of hurry up style of offense because he's known to force defenses to get lined up quickly by controlling the line of scrimmage and most importantly he wins in the pre-snap by reading and reacting to what the defense is doing when rushed. Garoppolo possesses a rare sense of timing, quick feet and stays active in the pocket while playing with intense speed almost as if he has a stopwatch ticking away in his head. Definite solid skills handling the ball, very comfortable executing two-hand play action fakes and he creates one-step fake screen illusions to fool the defense. Weather is always a issue playing in New England but that's something Jimmy Garoppolo is no stranger to, playing in a open-air stadium with some of the windiest conditions in the country during his four years at Eastern Illinois. I'm sure this fact about Garoppolo really peaked the Patriots interest when they found out about his ability to move safeties with his eyes and how he maintains his shoulder position and re-sets his frame back towards the direction of where he wants to throw. He even has a touchdown catch to his name when he caught the ball between two defenders during a trick play against Jacksonville State 2013. The final 'diesel' factor of Jimmy's and I'm sure this was straight up Belichick's alley, Garoppolo is surprisingly efficient at pooch punting, even from 50 yards out and he's also managed to punt one to the 1 yard mark during his tenure with EIU. He does have his weaknesses though, like how his down field accuracy can vary from time to time with open receivers. Sometimes he can be too quick and will let the ball sail on timing with skinny posts and has been seen on film throwing the ball in a no-look style. Garoppolo looks the part as Tom Brady's eventual replacement but he'll have to get a better grasp on pressure packages and deal with some of the growing pains with a heavier workload under center if he ever wants to truly succeed in the NFL let alone take the reigns after Tom Diesel steps down.
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| New England Royalty, Tom Brady. |
When it comes down to black and white or in this case red, white and blue. I still can't wrap my head around this Jimmy Garoppolo selection in the 2nd round, mainly because this years draft is suppose to be littered with talent so why not choose a player that can help in the here and now while the Patriots have a Hall of Fame quarterback, who has taken pay-cuts to help the team time and time again and won the only three Super Bowl titles the Pats have. I just don't understand not wanting to utilize the talent presently at hand because Garoppolo might end up just becoming more trade bait in the future. While the Broncos the Patriots top competition, continues to break the bank for Manning, the Patriots are content saving their money for a rainy day fund, good grief! Well that's my piece for today thanks as always for reading and please feel free to come back later and check out my next article which will include the very first Top 21 Diesel Gridiron Prospects. This will be a in depth look at 21 players from the 2014 draft that I trust to become solid starters and contributors, important players that will last more than five years in the brutal rigors of the NFL, and I would like to note that these are not all first round picks that I will be analyzing but merely players that carry those token Diesel qualities along with the guts and heart to rise above the crowd.
