Before the Patriots took to the field Monday morning for the first full-padded practice of the summer, Bill Belichick gave an update on the quarterback competition.
As with any other position on the team, jobs need to be earned and it seems like Cam Newton, Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer will all be given the chance to compete.
"All the quarterbacks have been good," Belichick said on ESPN Radio's Radio's Keyshawn, JWill and Zubin Show. "Brian Hoyer's got the most experience of any of our quarterbacks in our system. Jarrett Stidham is really coming on here in Year 2. He got a great year last year in terms of learning and personal and technique development at the position. And Cam has been a late addition, but he's brought a lot of energy and, obviously, playing experience to our room. For him, it's catching up on the specifics of the Patriots system, terminology and so forth, which he's worked extremely hard at. Brian Lewerke is a college free agent quarterback that is also in the room and is a developmental-type player. It's a good group.
"... They've all been great. I'd say, Cam, I just haven't had experience working with Cam. But he works extremely hard. He puts a lot into it, as do Jarrett and Brian. So it's a really hard-working, competitive group."Given Monday was the first padded practice, there really haven't been many opportunities for the quarterbacks to stand out, and that continued as there was a heavy focus on the run game.
"We really haven't had a lot of competitive opportunities — really haven't had any," Belichick said. "That will really start in a couple days here, once we get into padded practices and so forth where we can really go out there and compete. It's been a lot of learning, a lot of getting comfortable running plays multiple times in a controlled setting, so we'll be in position to go out there and start running them competitively against our defense and evaluate how players perform."
The Patriots will be back on the field Tuesday morning.
