There's been a lot of chatter about the Patriots and their perceived interest in Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields in the last few weeks.
With hoped-upon holy trinity of 2021 NFL draft QBs — Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson and Mac Jones (if the 49ers are set on him, some feel that might not be true) — set to go 1-2-3 in the draft later this month, and the Patriots without anything close to a long-term (or near-term) solution at quarterback, everyone and anyone wants to link the Patriots to Fields. Mock drafts have the Patriots trading up to get Fields. Some think he might be there at 15. Others think Josh McDaniels' presence at Fields' second pro day today in Columbus, Ohio is some sort of big indicator (more on that in a minute).
I get it. There are a variety of ways to connect Fields to the Patriots, not the least of which is the Patriots don't have a quarterback and Fields is the closest to being ready for the big time behind the trio after playing for the Buckeyes. He isn't as much of a project as Trey Lance. The Patriots have had interest in mobile quarterbacks before (Lamar Jackson), and Fields would pair well as a Cam Newton understudy for a year.
Did I mention the Patriots don't have a quarterback, especially after spending an obscene amount of money to overhaul a decrepit roster?
I understand the reasons and the need, especially in this dead period before draft week, to make news discussing the-always-popular Partiots and any quarterbacks. And the Patriots are definitely studying Fields, absolutely.
But for the Patriots to draft Fields at 15 — forget about trading up — they would need to, as an organization, completely evolve in terms of how they view the quarterback position. And it's not just what Mike Lombardi said last week, although that's part of it.
It also, partly, has to do with the Eagles, Howie Roseman, Russell Wilson and Jalen Hurts.
In 2012, after an underwhelming 8-8 season for the first year of their "Dream Team" (another pseudo-Patriots connection), the Eagles were set to pick Wilson that year. Roseman later admitted he got too cute with the pick, lost Wilson, and ended up taking Nick Foles with the 88th pick. That missed opportunity directly led to the Eagles' selection of Jalen Hurts last year.
"In 2012, we had a vision,” Roseman told reporters after the draft. “We had a vision that we would draft a quarterback who’s been extremely successful, and I don’t want tampering charges on me but I think we can understand who that was, and then come back in the fourth round and draft a quarterback who won a world championship for us and go back-to-back. And I feel like we got a little cute. And I don’t know that there’s a big difference between taking the 53rd pick in the draft and taking a pick in the third round if you feel strongly about a guy."
The experiment Roseman wanted to continue — after having Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick — was to be in the business of drafting well-built, mobile quarterbacks. The Eagles wanted to create a QB factory of sorts, and the well-built part was/is important. It's one thing to take a talented mobile quarterback with the slight and injury-prone build of a Robert Griffin III or even Jackson, but it's quite another to take a mobile QB who has a very strong lower body and can withstand more of a pounding.
“If I just throw out Russell Wilson as my comparison, I’m not being foolish," NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger told WIP in Philly after the draft. "Russell Wilson is a top-five quarterback in the league and has been for almost eight years now. He’s an unparalleled competitor. [Hurts] is bigger and stronger than Russell Wilson and he’s as fast. He can’t throw it like Russell can right now, but Russell didn’t throw it like that when he first came to Seattle in 2012. He’s gotten better over the years. Hurts has the same ability to escape, to extend, to look down the field, to find open receivers… I think this guy is going to end up being a starting quarterback in the NFL.”
Wilson's success in Seattle was proof to Roseman that his belief was correct, and Hurts playing better than Carson Wentz last year has likely made him double or triple-down on it. That's why some in the NFL believe it's not out of the realm of possibility that Roseman would pick Fields himself at 12 this year, after already trading down and getting more draft assets.
So the Eagles have put a premium on the physical type of QB that Wilson, Hurts and now Fields are. That's true. But it's also relative. The Eagles would have used a third-round pick on Wilson. They used a second-round selection on Hurts.
This is where the Patriots enter the discussion.
Do the Patriots share the Eagles' predilection for strong, mobile quarterbacks? They might. And they might take them in the second to third round, like the Philly. Would they take that to another level and pick that type of quarterback anywhere in the first round, including 15th or higher? We're not going to rule it out, but it would have to involve the Patriots drastically changing their thinking.
Teams that value athletic QBs more than others do so with the thinking that they might not be world-class at diagnosing defenses or highly accurate in a tightly scripted pro passing game as early in their career, but they will get there eventually. In the meantime, their playmaking ability will make enough plays to buy them and the team time to get to the next plateau.
I could be very wrong, but I just don't see the Patriots joining that group anytime soon.
To them, the NFL game still comes down to whether or not you can make a tight-window throw on third-and-long with the game on the line when the opponent is playing 2-man. A player's legs are really not going to help them all that much in that scenario, unless your name is Patrick Mahomes, but he's a unicorn.
For the Patriots to take an unpolished pocket passer at 15 or higher, it would go against decades of beliefs within that organization. Could Newton's presence change that a little bit, since a Fields would have time to improve? It's possible, sure. But this is the point Lombardi brought up last week:
“Do they like Justin Fields? I don’t think so. Do they like Trey Lance? I’m not sure. I don’t know. Just knowing how they operate, I couldn’t imagine that they could get either one of Lance and Fields to a high enough point (on their draft board) to justify trading up to get them. ... That doesn’t mean they don’t like them. What I’m saying is they don’t have them graded high enough to be able to justify drafting them at that point in the draft.”
“That player ‘has abilities to and can create mismatches versus most opponents in the league. He’s a featured player on the team has the ability to impact the outcome of the game, no one player can take him out of the game. Each week, he has a consistent level of performance, plays at a championship level in most situations, rates at the top 10 at his position in the league.’
