The Patriots seem to have an interesting quarterback competition going on this summer between two very different options.
Cam Newton is an experienced veteran who’s at his best when utilizing his legs as a weapon, while rookie first-round pick Mac Jones is more of a pocket-passer looking to manage a passing game through his decision-making and accuracy.
Many have speculated that the winner of the competition – yes, Jarrett Stidham is also technically still in the mix – could decide what kind of offense the Patriots will run in 2021. The idea is that based on the skills and strengths of the quarterback, there will be a dramatic change to the New England scheme, system and game plans.
Facing a similar competition in New Orleans -- where run-happy, jack-of-all-trades option Taysom Hill and former 5,000-yard passer Jameis Winston are battling to fill the job create by Drew Brees’ retirement – Saints head coach Sean Payton noted this week that just because two quarterbacks have different skill sets doesn’t mean a team’s offense will be dramatically altered or that the foundation of a successful system will be scrapped altogether based on who wins the starting job.
“We’ve always tried to look closely at the strengths of our players, what they do well and we’ll build a little bit around that player accordingly,” Payton told reporters this week, via Pro Football Talk. “And that’s something that we did when Drew first arrived here, and we would do with either these two players … there’s certain things that you might do, specific to one or the other. And yet, there’s still an overall philosophical approach that these guys will learn to play offense. But yeah, it’s not a whole different game plan for each one of them. There are certain things that we would do maybe differently with each one, but we’ll work that out.”
The Patriots have run the same system in New England since Charlie Weis and Bill Belichick created it in the early 2000s. While there have been minor adjustments over the years based on personnel and natural evolution, Josh McDaniels has talked openly about the foundation of the system remaining unchanged.
So while neither McDaniels nor Payton will be calling the exact same plays regardless of which of their quarterbacks wins the starting job, neither offensive mastermind will be completely overhauling their system based on the results of the quarterback competitions they are overseeing this summer.
Payton made that quite clear this week New Orleans and the same will be true in New England.
