There is much consternation about NFL workouts these days.
Tom Brady is ignoring the rules. (Whose rules? In case you haven't noticed, he now lives in Florida, which has always been a Banana Republic, where there are no rules.)
Why wasn't he doing this the past two Patriots offseasons?
Jarrett Stidham, according to a video his wife posted, is driving back to Texas to spend a couple of weeks with family and friends.
Why isn't he continuing to workout like Brady?! He'll never be as good as Brady.
Everyone needs to take a deep breath.
Until Jarrett Ryan Stidham actually shows that he can throw passes in an NFL game without throwing a pick-six (hey, Brett Favre's first NFL pass was similar), I don't really care what he does as far as workouts. I certainly don't care what he thinks or feels.
When it comes to the Patriots' offense, the only person I care about is Julian Edelman.
No. 11 is the straw that stirs the drink right now.
Until someone emerges as the next franchise quarterback of the Patriots, Edelman is going to be the one guy on that side of the locker room that everyone looks at.
He's the swagger. He has the experience. If all is right with Jules, then the Patriots' offense will feel good about itself.
And we know Edelman is working his tail off right now.
You're not this good for this long on accident ? @Edelman11
(via zacemde/IG) pic.twitter.com/ucXqiqQu6J
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) June 17, 2020
As long as that continues, I don't worry about the Patriots not doing enough work in the offseason, or falling behind Brady. It's all nonsense.
As for Brady, look, I didn't like him not working out the past two offseasons. From being elsewhere in the NFL, I knew Brady was different because he never, ever stopped working to be the best, even in the offseason.
Without that, Brady was just like everyone else ... and he played like everyone else the past two seasons.
But just ripping Brady for the past two offseasons leaves one very important person off the hook: Bill Belichick.
Brady had zeros issues showing up ... until Belichick starting dinking around with Alex Guerrero's access and, most importantly, Brady's money.
Up until 2017, Brady was paid basically in the top five of QBs, even though the accounting made it seem like he was saving the Patriots beaucoup bucks. That wasn't exactly true.
Brady did his normal offseason routine in '17, thinking that the Patriots would do right by his contract in training camp, just like every season.
But then they didn't. And that changed everything.
Over the next three seasons, Brady lost about $50 million in money he normally would have earned. No wonder he stopped doing the extra work. You would have done the same thing if your bosses did that.
And that's on Belichick, not Brady, so don't give him a pass.
As for Stidham going to Texas for "a few weeks" ... who cares? He deserves a little rest and relaxation before the season, and there's plenty of time and places for him to get work in Texas (N'Keal Harry is nearby). What, Brady never worked out in Montana or Costa Rica?
I don't remember Brady organizing all the troops in the 2002 offseason ... before the Patriots missed the playoffs.
As usual, this workout stuff is much ado about nothing and/or doesn't acknowledge the reality of the situation.
And when it comes to the 2020 Patriots, Edelman is the player everyone will be looking toward in any event. He has the cache and the experience. If something needs to be done for the 2020 Patriots to be a better team, I want it to be Edelman who gets on a group text and tells the players, "We've screwed around long enough, this is what we need to be doing and I expect you all to do it."
Forget Brady. Forget Stidham.
Edelman is the guy now.