Tuesday 28 April 2020 14:19, UK
New England head coach Bill Belichick has admitted not taking a quarterback in the Patriots' first post-Tom Brady draft "was not by design".
The Patriots selected 10 players in the 2020 NFL Draft, but no quarterbacks to compete for the starting job that was held for two decades by six-time Super Bowl champion Brady, 42, who signed with Tampa Bay last month.
New England currently have second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham, a fourth-round draft pick from Auburn in 2019, and 34-year-old veteran Brian Hoyer as their top two options at the position.
"The bottom line is that we're evaluating that position along with all the other ones," Belichick said, when asked about not drafting a quarterback.
"If we feel like we find the right situation, we'll certainly draft them. We've drafted them in multiple years, multiple points in the draft. Didn't work out last three days. That was not by design. It could have, but it did not."
Patriots director player of personnel Nick Caserio told reporters on Friday night, after the first three rounds of the draft were over, he expected New England to add another quarterback.
Asked if they might draft one on Saturday, during rounds four to seven, Caserio replied: "We're going to have a third quarterback on our roster, pair them up with Jarrett and Brian.
"We're going to have another player here at this position. Where he comes from and how he gets here is sort of yet to be determined. There are a few guys I think that we like and we feel comfortable with. Now it's just a matter of how we get them on the team."
In total, 13 quarterbacks were selected during the seven rounds of the draft.
Despite not getting one of those quarterbacks, Belichick expressed confidence moving forward with Stidham and Hoyer.
"I like both those players," Belichick said. "We've had Brian a couple times. I think he certainly gives us a very solid level of play. We have a lot of confidence in him.
"And Jarrett had a good year last year. He improved a lot. We'll see where that takes him. Yeah, I have confidence in both players."
Stidham, 23, appeared in three games as a rookie and completed 2 of 4 passes for 14 yards with one interception.
The Patriots brought back Hoyer last month with a one-year deal. He previously played for New England from 2009-11 and 2017-18.
In 69 games (38 starts) with seven teams, Hoyer has completed 59.1 per cent of his passes for 10,274 yards with 52 touchdowns and 34 interceptions.
