New England Patriots: 3 Early breakout candidates on offense in 2020

1. Jarrett Stidham

All eyes will be on the quarterback position during the 2020 NFL and into the future for New England. For the first time since 2000, the Patriots will have a new face officially taking over under center as the starting quarterback moving forward following legendary quarterback Tom Brady deciding to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during free agency this offseason.

Two options at the position that a starter will likely be chosen from comes between the two players currently on the depth chart: second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham and veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer.

New England could ultimately decide to go out in free agency as the season inches closer and closer to add to the quarterback room, but the early front-runner in this race for the new Patriots starting quarterback appears to be in favor of Stidham. Bill Belichick and company appear to be very high on the almost 24-year-old quarterback who was drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Auburn.

Stidham, who was a backup during his rookie campaign last year behind Brady, appeared in a total of three games during the year while going 2-for-4 with 14 yards passing and one interception.

But in 2020 with a new quarterback set to take over under center, we could see Stidham have a breakout year with the extended playing time leading the Patriots offense.

It will be odd to see a quarterback competition taking place once again in New England, something we haven’t seen in a long time. But if Stidham ends up winning that competition over Hoyer or potentially others, he is poised for a big — and also extremely important — 2020 campaign.