After Brady: Could Richmond's Kyle Lauletta be the next guy?

The Patriots figure to be in the market for a quarterback this spring. Why not Richmond's Kyle Lauletta?


Lauletta landed on the radar of many New England fans after this story from Eric Edholm of Pro Football Weekly, a piece that detailed the fact that he appears to check off many of the boxes that might appeal to Bill Belichick: He’s a former lacrosse player. His father played quarterback at Navy in the 1980s (Lauletta's grandfather played football at Delaware, and his uncle also played for Navy). He can read and process defenses quickly and is a good decision-maker. And he’s an under-the-radar mid- to late-round prospect who has good college numbers but might not be ready for prime time for another year or so.

Asked to break down Lauletta’s game, his college offensive coordinator has nothing but good things to say about him, saying “people gravitate to” Lauletta, and he has excellent leadership skills.

“I’ve known Kyle for one year — I inherited him,” said Richmond offensive coordinator Jeff Durden when reached by phone on Wednesday. “The neatest thing about the kid was the fact that he didn’t go through spring practices because he had an ACL injury, but he made it back to the field after nine months. That was incredible. I was his fourth offensive coordinator in four years, and he learned our offense without taking a single rep. He’s also had some really good coaches, but he’s a real talented kid.

“He’s heady,” Durden said. “He has a quick release, and a good arm. I would say that what he lacks in arm strength, he makes up for in anticipation and accuracy. He can put the ball into a spot where only your guy can catch it. I’m a no-huddle guy, and he did a good job running that. He was in a pro-style offense before I got to Richmond, and I had him in a shotgun set — I wanted to put as much space between him and the other team that I could. We kept our tight ends in a lot and ran a lot of max protect.”

A 6-foot-3, 215-pounder, he finished his college career with 40 starts, to go along with a 64 percent completion rate, 10,465 passing yards, 73 touchdowns and 35 interceptions. Lauletta followed that with an impressive performance at the Senior Bowl, throwing three touchdown passes and winning the game’s MVP award. As a result, he may have silenced some of the people who have any sort of FCS bias against him.



So would he fit with the Patriots?

Regardless of the fact that the Patriots have had Tom Brady under center for almost 20 years, no team has been more aggressive when it comes to going after quarterbacks in the draft. And while that quest takes on added importance this spring with the departure of Jimmy Garoppolo, Lauletta figures to be sort who could be in their wheelhouse — someone who isn’t a high-level prospect you’d have to trade up for, but a developmental signal-caller who would be available on Day Two who could sit for a spell behind Brady while learning the game.

Durden said he wasn’t aware of the Lauletta-to-New England chatter. But he said he’s frequently used Brady as the gold standard for technique, particularly when it came to sharpening Lauletta’s game last season.

“Brady has such a tight circle — when his left hand comes off the ball, it’s not very long until the ball comes out of his hand,” Durden said “Brady is a perfect guy for quarterbacks to watch when it comes to having no wasted motion. No wasted movement. A nice tight circle.”

Asked about Lauletta’s evolutionary potential, Durden said he’s confident Lauletta can play on Sunday’s. It’ll just take some time.

“Dak (Prescott) kind of broke the mold; he was able to come into a situation without being an apprentice,” Durden said. “Everybody else who I know who has had success at the quarterback position over the last few years has sat behind someone else. I think that’s going to be the best thing for Kyle. He’s probably going to need to be a guy who sits for a bit.

“The good thing? He’s not a ‘system’ guy. Based on what he went through in college, it’s my guess he’ll be able to learn the system and find the soft spots and take advantage of the situation. I think he can do it,” he said. “He’s mentally tough — between his knee and the fact that we had some adversity this past year. But he’s a kid who can go out and compete. If you told me he could be a starter in the NFL in three or four years, I’d probably agree. He’s going to be a good value pick — better than advertised.”