Bedard: With time not on their side with QBs, Patriots may need to think outside the box

Everyone knows the Patriots need a legitimate starting quarterback this offseason. And while many fall for the tired — and factually incorrect — cliche that a team needs X at quarterback in order to sign Y or Z at receiver and tight end (go through the top WR free agents over the years and see which teams they signed with — it almost always had to do with a QB by the name of Straight C. Homie), the Patriots don't need to necessarily rush into anything.

And that's good, because they're not on their own timetable. Unless the Patriots are ready to go all-in with a Marcus Mariota (trade), Alex Smith or Cam Newton (free agents) — none, it appears, all that appealing — New England is waiting for many other shoes to drop before they can make a strong entry into the QB market. And most of them have to do with the draft ... at the end of April, a full month after all the top free agents will be signed, sealed and delivered elsewhere.

So what are the Patriots going to do in the interim? They might just have to go with Plan B or C, and hope Plan A emerges later.

What would that look like? 

Setting the scene

Here's what we know.

The Patriots would like Jimmy Garoppolo back, but he's under contract with the Niners. San Francisco would like to upgrade, but can't unload Garoppolo until they have his replacement lined up.

Could the Patriots step up, as Mike Reiss suggested, and make San Fran a strong offer right now to land Garoppolo? Yes, they could. But think about the Niners' flip side to that. That would leave them without a QB and almost as desperate as the Patriots. Say the Niners want Sam Darnold or a Kirk Cousins as their next QB. If Garoppolo is not on the roster, the Jets or Vikings could drive a very hard bargain because they know the Niners are desperate. With Garoppolo on the roster, the Niners can hang up the phone if the Jets make a ridiculous request — the Niners would have the leverage over a Jets team that had, say, Zach Wilson and Darnold on the roster — and tell them to pound sand. Without Garoppolo, the opposite is true. The Niners need to keep the Jets on the line and likely have to give in to their request.

Same thing could happen in the draft. Say the Niners for 2021 are eyeing a veteran (Teddy Bridgewater) and a first-round QB as their plan to improve at the position and they want to move up to 5 (Bengals), 6 (Eagles) or 7 (Lions) to draft their favored prospect. With no Garoppolo on the roster, the draft teams can drive their own hard bargain. With Jimmy G, the Niners can bluff and play disinterested.

Other options

So it's possible, Garoppolo — if he's ever available — won't be tradeable until right before the draft, during it or after it, when we know which teams have spent a pretty penny to acquire a top 10 QB.

If that happens, what are the Patriots to do? They're going to have to go with contingency plans, that are written in pencil and not ink.

Garoppolo, unless he restructures his deal, will cost $25.5 million in salary for 2021 (I'm sure they will tack on a dummy year or two to lessen the cap hit). The Patriots have to leave that chunk of change open for him, which would seem to take them out of the Marcus Mariota market ($10 million as backup, $21 million as a starter) but it can't be totally ruled out. It would also seem to take out Mitch Trubisky and Jameis Winston, but perhaps they have no market outside of their current teams.

So the Patriots will have to go a cheaper route for a placeholder who, in the worst-case scenario that Garoppolo is never made available by the Niners, can start and win games for this team.

That, basically, leaves the options as:

Trade for Gardner Minshew

Unlike the Jets who could just go forward with Darnold and hold out for a king's ransom for the No. 2 pick to help rebuild the entire roster, the Jaguars are definitely taking a QB, and there's a 99 percent chance it's Trevor Lawrence. That means Minshew is likely available now. He makes $850,000 this year, and $965,000 in 2022. He's won games and put up good stats in this league on a bad team. If the Patriots trade for Minshew, have Jarrett Stidham and sign a veteran (Newton, whoever) after the draft, that's an improvement over last season.

Sign a veteran QB, who will be OK with a low base salary, and possibly stepping aside

The names on that list include Newton, Jacoby Brissett, Alex Smith, Trubisky, Tyrod Taylor, Ryan Fitzpatrick, A.J. McCarron, Joe Flacco, Blaine Gabbert and Andy Dalton.

I don't know about you, but I don't see any potential in that list. A healthy Smith would definitely be an option, but I don't know how anyone would have faith in his health at this point. And you're talking about possibly needing this player to be your starter should Garoppolo stay with the Niners.

So, basically, I think trading for Minshew — or possibly Kyle Allen from Washington — is about the only pre-emptive move the Patriots could make to keep their options open should Garoppolo become available in early May. The other possible trades would be with teams that have no certainty on if they will be able to get the first-round QB of their dreams.

The other x-factor: Niners make a pre-emptive move of their own

Kyle Shanahan could, at some point, come to the realization that a Darnold or their own drafted QB at No. 12 or higher would be a better plan than running it back with Garoppolo.

That's where the Teddy Bridgewater rumors come into play. If Shanahan thinks he can win with, say, Justin Fields, Mac Jones, Trey Lance or Kellen Mond, then he could say, 'Screw the Jets, I'll get my own QB in the draft.' And to keep his options and draft war chest open, he could decide to deal Garoppolo to the Patriots now.

In that case, the Niners and Patriots basically switch spots. The Niners get the backup plan — Bridgewater for cheap from the Panthers who want his contract off the books — now, and can trade Garoppolo to the Patriots for a second-round pick that would help them move up in the draft.

It's all one big poker game at this point. Who's going to show their cards first?