Justin Fields 2021 NFL Draft fits: 5 Best landing spots
By Tadhg Flynn
2. New England Patriots
The New England Patriots must have reviewed the 2020 NFL season with more regrets than any other team. Tom Brady proved to the football world that his individual brilliance can stand alone without New England’s system. His leadership and talent led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their second ever Super Bowl in February and the Patriots watched from afar after deciding he was not worth keeping.
The pain of watching Brady’s success was heightened by the Patriots’ own season, finishing with a 7-9 record and a year with reduced numbers in every offensive category. Cam Newton came in as the successor to Brady, an unenviable task for any player, and continued his struggles from the previous season.
While the 2015 MVP is far from one of the worst quarterbacks in the league, he is not the same electric player he had once been with the Carolina Panthers, struggling to make the same throws that he once did with pomp and generally losing a bit of physicality that gave him an edge.
Pundits cannot help but compare to his New England positional compatriot when assessing Fields’ talent. His college peers and opponents have even referred to him in the past as a “young Cam Newton”.
While the Patriots’ quarterback has a slight edge in both height and weight, both are big-bodied stars with the arm ability to make throws and the physical capacity to run past players. Fields would surely be delighted at the comparison to a former league MVP. Even better for him and his career would be the chance to learn from him.
If Fields drops any further than the No. 6 selection, it makes too much sense for the Patriots to do whatever they can to get him. Newton can help develop the college quarterback’s NFL effectiveness, whilst Newton, still extremely talented in his own right, can help improve the 2020 season’s results with the much improved 2021 Patriots squad.
If the Patriots are gifted a player who has fallen in the Draft board rankings only since the end of the season, has already recorded one of the most efficient touchdown to interception college football seasons ever, and has a similar frame and game style to the current quarterback he possesses, Belichik can already sense another ring in the coming years.