FOXBOROUGH — A league source confirmed that Patriots quarterback Jarrett Stidham went to a local hospital on Thursday night for tests and a lower-body issue could be an issue for him for some time.
In further discouraging news, 2019 first-round pick N'Keal Harry missed his second-straight practice and you have to wonder about his place in the receiver rotation going forward.
NFL Network's Mike Giardi and ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the Stidham developments.
The Patriots only had a walkthrough on Friday and Stidham was there and threw a little, but he didn't take part in any of the team sessions. When he did something physical, Stidham looked very sore.
The players are off on Saturday, and if Stidham misses any time when practices resume, he'll be out of the picture for the starting job and may be staring at a situation where he's No. 3 behind Cam Newton and Brian Hoyer.
Stidham's situation will do nothing to ally the growing concerns about him. Internally, there's been a frustration that Stidham hasn't done more to grab the starting position to this point. He certainly started off strong, but has struggled since the first two days.
About midway through practice on Thursday, his play nosedived as deep passes lacked force down the field — two were picked off that way — and he threw a terrible short out to Devin Asiasi that did not go over well with the coaches.
My amateur diagnosis is that Stidham is dealing with some sort of groin/sports hernia injury.
Perhaps the injury explains some of his struggles, but that doesn't mean it necessarily excuses them.
It's very rare for a young quarterback, in a competitive situation where there's no contact, to deal with an injury. In fact, I can't remember it happening in my time covering the NFL. Guys get banged up in preseason games, sure. But they don't usually sustain injuries (outside the freak non-contact ACL, and even those are usually with player with more mass) that cause them to miss practices while wearing a red jersey.
If it's an overuse injury — and sources believe that's what this is — that will not be looked at favorably by the coaches. Players have had months to get ready for this camp, to prepare themselves. If you're trying to be the franchise quarterback of the Patriots after Tom Brady and competing with Cam Newton, you are 100 percent physically ready to go and you do not miss reps for anything short of a major injury. Brady had to be dragged off the field to take veteran days, and that only happened very late in his Patriots career.
Both Josh McDaniels and quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch indicated on conference calls that they did not have much information on Stidham's injury, and that aligns with sources saying personnel were not informed about it — so it's not a major injury situation, or at least Bill Belichick doesn't feel it's a major injury, and that may be the most important thing of all.
"Coach held him today but I’m pretty sure he’ll be out there and ready to roll the next time we practice," said McDaniels.
Fisch didn't even know about it.
"I didn’t. I don’t know much about that," Fisch said. "I think he had a lot of good things in practice. I think they’ve all had a lot of good stuff in practice, I think they all have missed some throws in practice. I haven’t really got involved in any injuries or anything.”
Usually, if a player is dealing with an injury that will need to be dealt with, the coaches are told their status. That the coaches weren't clued could be an indication Belichick doesn't think this is serious — or feels it shouldn't be serious, if Stidham really wants to compete for a job.
As far as Harry, this is just another frustrating hurdle for him. Harry missed portions of camp with a hamstring injury, and then was put on injured reserve to start last season after being injured in a preseason game. Harry ended up playing seven games and 19 percent of the snaps last season.
There were high hopes for Harry entering this season with a restart as far as health. Now he's hit another speed bump.
“I don’t think frustration would be the word, because I know whether you’re on or off the field, whatever happens to you, everybody’s working really hard to try to get back on the field if we’re off the field," said receivers coach Mick Lombardi. "Each player wants to play. They want to play to their best ability and whether that’s the N’Keal, Julian, Jakobi, anybody, who’s off the field trying to get back on it. They’re really just working hard, whatever it is. I coach the guys that are on the field, obviously, and trying to get them better every day, so I have to defer to that. But I know that each player and each person in this building is working as hard as possible to contribute on Sunday. So I know N’Keal is working hard, as is everybody in my room.”
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TAKING ATTENDANCE
Physically unable to perform list: RB Sony Michel (foot), RB Lamar Miller (knee).
Red non-contact jerseys: QBs.
Returned to practice: WR Will Hastings, WR Jeff Thomas, LB Anfernee Jennings.
Out: WR N’Keal Harry, S Adrian Phillips, CB Stephon Gilmore, RT Yodny Cajuste, DT Beau Allen, DE Derek Rivers, DL Tashawn Bower, CB D'Angelo Ross.
Limited: S Kyle Dugger, QB Jarrett Stidham, WR Jakobi Meyers.
New injuries: DT Adam Butler (right leg) is dealing with something but staying on the field. WR Jeff Thomas had his right leg looked at after landing awkwardly against air.
DRESS CODE
Shells.
LENGTH OF PRACTICE
1:30 in a relentless sun.
QB STATS
There were no competitive drills.
QUICK HITS
- With safety numbers low, Joejuan Williams got some snaps at safety, where he saw some time last season.
- After a few down days, Julian Edelman saw a lot of action today, including on the side field with Cam Newton.
- Still have not seen K Justin Rohrwasser do anything but ride the bike since starting camp 3 of 5. Normally, the punters and kickers alternate their kicking days. Special teams has been a lot of Jake Bailey (punts and kickoffs) so far. Perhaps Rohrwasser is dealing with an injury.
- TE Devin Asiasi seems to be ascending.
- OTs Justin Herron and Korey Cunningham are seeing their versatility being looked at. Patriots need to find out who their swing tackle is going to be.
SCHEDULE
Saturday: Players are off.