New England Patriots: Securing future, Super Bowl return with 2018 NFL Draft

Drafting a successor

It’s no secret that Tom Brady is past his prime, though it’s difficult to tell based on his play. The 40-year old quarterback has continued to silence those who said he would fall off the proverbial cliff, but the hard truth is, no one beats Father Time forever. Of course, Bill Belichick could stand pat with Brady and sign anyone to back him up, but that’s not likely.

In fact, it was rumored to believe that Belichick was upset over the Jimmy Garoppolo trade. According to Bleacher Report, the only reason Garoppolo was traded was because the owner, Robert Kraft, told Belichick to do so:

"“The Patriots traded Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers for a second-round pick, although Wickersham’s article reveals Belichick did not want to move the 26-year-old signal-caller but only did so after Kraft told him to in a meeting before the Nov. 1 trade deadline.”"

Without a successor for a quarterback who will be 41 by the start of the 2018 season, the Patriots are playing with fire. What the Pats have to do now is find one in this draft. History tells us that they aren’t afraid of pulling the trigger early on a signal-caller. They drafted Garoppolo in the second-round of the 2014 draft and then took Jacoby Brissett in the third-round of the 2016 draft.

There’s a chance the Patriots could move up in order to land Brady’s successor — but it’ll take too much for the Patriots to move up high enough to take one of the big four: Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen or Baker Mayfield. And based on their history, conventional wisdom says they’re more likely to move down the draft board to acquire more picks, not up.

However, they could stay stand pat (pun intended) and allow a quarterback to fall to them. The more likely scenario would be the Patriots taking one of the “second-tier” guys like Lamar Jackson or Mason Rudolph. The former doesn’t fit the criteria of the other quarterbacks that New England has drafted, but this has become a league where mobile quarterbacks are viewed as a valuable option.

Allowing Jackson and Rudolph to sit and learn a Josh McDaniels offense that’s catered towards a system they are used to playing in coming out of college would be great. In Jackson’s case, he has a powerful arm to make any throw and did so in a scheme that forced him to make NFL-like passes. His excellent escapability would help mask the woes of any offensive line problems should he need to play earlier than expected. Should the Pats take a quarterback, whether it’s at 23 or 31, Jackson should be the Patriots pick.