With Jacoby Brissett on the field, the Patriots backup quarterback was… Julian Edelman?
The Patriots are talented, if not particularly deep, at quarterback.
And with Tom Brady suspended, and Jimmy Garoppolo now injured, third-string quarterback Jacoby Brissett was forced into the starting role for more than half of Sunday’s win against the Miami Dolphins.
But what if Brissett went down? According to the team’s unofficial depth chart, there’s nobody behind the rookie quarterback (it’s not completely uncommon for teams to only carry two active players at the position).
Luckily for the Patriots, they did have at least one player with experience at the quarterback: Julian Edelman.
Shortly after Garoppolo left the game Sunday, former Patriots executive Mike Lombardi tweeted that Edelman—a quarterback in college before turning to wide receiver in the NFL—would be the next man up.
Julian Edelman will have to be the emergency QB now
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) September 18, 2016
ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported that Edelman was in the role of quarterback, with his wide receiver gloves off, while warming up with Brissett on the sidelines before the second half. According to Reiss, the Patriots are one of just four teams that started the the season without a third quarterback on their practice squad.
Edelman starred at quarterback for three years at Kent State, and was the team’s leading passer and rusher during his senior year. He finished his college career just shy of 5,000 passing yards.
Has his arm strength held up since switching positions? We’ll let his 51-yard trick-play touchdown pass to Danny Amendola in the 2015 playoffs answer that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZorFWMalTY
If Garoppolo’s injury keeps him out next week, the Patriots have just four days before their Thursday night game against the Houston Texans if they were to add another quarterback to the roster.
After Sunday’s game Bill Belichick was asked about the possibility of bringing in another quarterback. According to CSNNE, Belichick kept things ambiguous.
“We have our plans for that,” he said.
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