As a Patriots fan, the first four weeks of this season were very stressful for me, having to watch them play without Tom Brady. Through the first six quarters, I watched as a star was born, a star who’s name I couldn’t even spell until after the season opener in Arizona. That guy’s name is Jimmy Garoppolo, and to anyone who watched Jimmy throw the ball, you could just see it. He played against two playoff caliber defenses, and carved them up with ease, and if not for an unlucky AC sprain in his throwing shoulder, we might’ve seen the Patriots go 4-0 without Tom Brady. But getting off of that, we still saw excellence from Jimmy Garoppolo against the Cardinals and the Dolphins, and as much as it might hurt Patriots fans, now is the time to trade him.
Garoppolo is entering the last year of his rookie deal after the Patriots drafted him in the 2nd round of the 2014 draft out of Eastern Illinois, and his trade value has never been higher especially considering the weak quarterback class of this upcoming draft and this free agency period. Quarterback is without a doubt the most important position in all of professional sports, and while I still believe the motto “defense wins championships” it has been proven that you need a great quarterback to succeed as well, and it seems that teams believe that Garoppolo can lead them to wins and championships. So why haven’t the Patriots traded him away yet? Is he going to be a serviceable replacement for when Tom Brady retires? Absolutely, but we have no idea when that’s going to be. And there’s no way the Patriots use the franchise tag on Garoppolo because there are so many other places you can put that money rather than into your backup quarterback. So with that being said and considering the regards teams are holding Garoppolo in, there’s no way he’d sign a deal to stay in New England next year, when he will be paid through the roof to come in and start somewhere else instead of sitting behind Tom Brady for who knows how long.
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Now let’s look at some of the Patriots’ needs in this draft: cornerback, edge rusher, linebacker and tight end. Now what’s this draft historically deep at? Cornerback, edge rusher, linebacker. The Cleveland Browns have already offered the #12 pick in this year’s draft along with a 3rd round pick next year for Garoppolo, but that apparently isn’t close to what the Patriots want for him. I’ve heard that they are asking for the #1 overall pick (and if they got it and drafted Myles Garrett I might actually lose my mind…) along with a few other picks, and it looks as if the Browns might be stocking up to make another offer, as they now have 3 1st round and 5 2nd round picks over the next 2 years. As much as I just said I’d love the #1 pick for Jimmy, I would be overjoyed with the #12 pick because after losing Logan Ryan and the potential of Malcolm Butler leaving, there are a couple of great cornerbacks the Patriots could consider drafting at #12. Not only that, there are some top tier edge rushers that would in all likelihood still be available too (see my last article on potential Patriot draft picks for more on them).
But just to recap, as good as Jimmy Garoppolo can possibly be for the Patriots, there’s no telling when he’ll actually see the field, and this draft class is full of potential prospects that would thrive under Bill Belichick, and that’s why the time to move Garoppolo is now.
