FanPost

Dearly departed: Brady's Backups...where are they?

In light of Jimmy G's trade, I was wondering what happened to all the QBs that sat and held the clipboard for Tom over the years. Except for the newly traded Jimmy, every single one of them had gone on to start games at other teams. I'll check in on the last five back up QBs.

Matt Cassel: (2005-2008 - 4 Season) Matt was drafted in the 7th round of the 2005 Draft. He went to USC and backed up Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, never becoming a starting QB throughout his four-year career as a Trojan. Though he was roommates with Carson and Troy Polamalu. As a rookie, he was the 3rd string QB behind Brady and Doug Flutie. He became Tom's primary back up in the 2006 season and started a long stretch of the Patriots only carrying two QBs on the roster. Cassel saw significant time as a starter when Brady went down in the opening game of the 2008 season. He led the Patriots to an 11-5 record and narrowly missed the Playoffs on a tiebreaker to the Dolphins. That season marked the end of his rookie contract and he was subsequently franchised due to the uncertainty of Brady's recovery. But just three weeks later he, along with Patriot legend, Mike Vrabel, were traded to the Kansas City Chiefs for a second-round pick that ended up becoming the 34th overall pick. That pick eventually was used to select safety Patrick Chung. That 2009 draft also produced another QB selected in the 7th round that has since become a Wide receiving wonder in the form of Julian Edelman.

Cassel spent four seasons as the Chief's starter. HIs first year with the Chiefs ended with a 4-11 record after missing the season opener due to an injury suffered in a preseason game. He had a much better second season, leading the Chiefs to a division title and Playoff berth. He was later named as a Pro Bowl alternate for no other than Tom Brady. Cassel is still in the league after spending time with the Vikings, Bills, Cowboys and currently with the Titans. He's had 80 starts in the NFL with a 36-44 record and made tons of money actually. Not bad for a 7th Round draft pick that hardly saw any playing time in college.

Brian Hoyer: (2009-2011 - 3 Seasons) Brian came into the Patriots came as an undrafted free agent after a collegiate career at Michigan State University. There were three other QBs in camp to compete for who will be Tom Brady's back up. By the end of the camp, Brian emerged as the last QB standing and was signed to the team. Hoyer didn't see much playing time during his three-year stint with the Patriots. Though his debut was a touchdown drive where he went 5/5 in helping bury the souls of the Titans in a 59-0 game. The same game Brady threw 5 touchdowns in the second quarter.

Hoyer didn't have any competitors in the 2010 camp. He threw the first touchdown pass to Gronk in a preseason game. He also threw his first career interception in a loss to Cleveland and his first career Touchdown to Brandon Tate in the final game of the season.

Hoyer's final year with the Patriots was the 2011 season. His only game action that season was the final pass in the final game of the regular season, a pass that was insignificant to the outcome of the game, but had historical importance. Coach BB specifically called that pass, so Gronk could break the record for most receiving yards in a season by a TE. Hoyer made the 22yd throw. Hoyer was cut after that season. He wasn't unable to catch on to another team until more than halfway through the 2012 season when the Steelers picked him up for a three-week stint as their backup when their Big Ben and Leftwich (BB's back up) went down to injuries within a week and Charlie Batch became their starter. He was claimed by the Cardinals and started their final game of that season.

Hoyer spent two seasons with the Cleveland Browns, made stops with the Texans, Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers and now back to the Patriots where he started. Like Cassel before him, Hoyer has bounced around the league quite a bit. He's started 37 in that period. He may have had more starting opportunity last year if not for an injury that shortened his promising run. He started the first six games this year for the 49ers, going 0-6, but that record could have easily been 4-2 or even 5-1 being that they lost by field goal margins in those contests. Not a bad run for an undrafted free agent QB. His current three-year contract with the Patriots as reported is heavily financed by SF. Welcome home kid. In your absence, we've nabbed two SB rings, hopefully, you get yours this year!

Ryan Mallet: (2011-2013 - 3 Seasons) Mallet stated his collegiate career at Brady's alma mater, Michigan. He was a very promising talent but was forced to transfer due to a coaching change that brought about a change in offensive style that didn't suit his skill sets. He will finish up his college career at Arkansas before being drafted by the Patriots in the 3rd round of the 2011 Draft. At the time he was drafted he was the highest QB drafted by the Patriots since Drew Bledsoe. He was the third string QB (the first time the Patriots had 3 QBs on the 53 man roster since the 2005 season). He served as Brady's sole back up between 2012-2013, though he had a little camp competition in the 2013 preseason against Tim Tebow.

Ryan saw his first regular season action in a game against the Jaguars in London in the 2012 season. He completed his first NFL pass to Shane Vereen. He never saw any real action while in New England. He was traded to New England South (Texans) following the 2013 Season. He started the 2014 season as Ryan Fitzpatrick's backup, before assuming the starting job later in the season. He threw his first NFL touchdown pass in his first NFL start against the Brown. His first TD was to JJ Watt. Weeks later, an injury will end his season.

After returning from injury to start the 2015 season, as fate would have it, Mallet found himself in a battle for the starting position against the man he replaced in New England, Brian Hoyer (did I mention New England South?) He lost the battle and started acting like a little whiny female dog. He later apologized. Hoyer was benched in the opening game and Mallet took over as the starter. A few games later, Mallet was benched in a game and Hoyer took over (O'Brien clearly took the high drama to NE South). This back and forth went on for a few more weeks with one of them starting the game and the other finishing because of the horrible play of the other. The Texans ultimately decided to live with the bad play of Hoyer, it was the lesser of two evils because Ryan's came with extra off-field added drama. He was released before the end of the season after he missed a team flight to a game.

The Ravens were forced to pick up Ryan after they lost their starting QB and his back up. He made his 7th career start in an upset against the Steeler (even away from New England, the Steelers are still afraid of Patriots-related players). That was his last meaningful football action until he entered the game in relief of an injured Flacco against the Dolphins in London last week.

Jacoby Brissett: (2016 - 1 Season) Jacoby started his collegiate career at Florida and later transferred to NC State after two years where he was the starter for his final two years. He was drafted by the Patriots in the 3rd round of the 2016 Draft upon high recommendation by former Patriots coach and Coach BB's mentor Bill Parcells. He was the only drafted player in his draft class who didn't have an agent, choosing to work out his deal himself. He's the latest addition to the TB12 Back Up crew.

Expected to be a developmental prospect for the future, he was 3rd on the depth chart but was thrust into action much earlier than expected. Due to Brady's suspension from the diabolical farce of inflated footballs, Jimmy Garapollo assumed the stating position filling in admirably before getting knocked out in the second quarter of the second game of the 2016 season. The injury ushered in Jacoby's first NFL action in just his second week into a regular NFL season. He held on tight to preserve the lead built up by Jimmy and subsequently the win. He started his first NFL game the following week, a shutout against New England South (Texans). Do he didn't do much in the passing game, he certainly showed us what he could do with his legs napping a rushing TD in the game. He lost the following week, and gracefully returned to his 3rd string position upon Brady's return to the team.

Due to uncertainty concerning Andrew Luck's injury prior to the start of the 2017, the Colts traded for the services of young Mr. Brissett in exchange for a wide receiver I seem can't figure out if he's even playing for us right now. He's currently the starting QB for the Colts for the foreseeable future until they decide to tell us what is really going on with Mr. Luck. With his sudden departure from New England, we were left with one back up QB...or so we thought!

Jimmy Garapollo: (2014-2017 - 3.5 Seasons) Jimmy G was the heir apparent to the football messiah, Tom Brady. There was no doubt about it in all of New England. Then a couple days ago, something happened...he got traded and silently we all collectively shit out pants and scratched our heads until they bled. The resounding WTF that emanated from within 100 miles of Foxboro was deafening. By Wednesday as the dust started to settle, the only thing we had left to do was recite "In Bill We Trust."

Jimmy was a product of Tony Romo's alma mater Eastern Illinois. Ah, fuck it...I can't even get myself to give his background like I did others. All you need to know is that Jimmy (as long as he remained in New England) was Brady 2.0, The second coming to TB12, The Patriots' Steve Young, until.....he wasn't. He got traded. Here's the problem I'm having. I absolutely love this kid without him even showing much on the field. But he fit the mold, he was going to be it, our very own Aaron Rodgers in the time of Aaron Rodgers. And I want nothing more than for him to succeed. It's impossible for me to wish him bad luck in SF. I want him to succeed there. The only thing that will salvage this situation now is that BB uncovers an UDF QB who possesses the arm and legs of Rodgers, Accuracy of Marino, Coolness of Montana, Toughness of Elway, Football acumen of P. Manning and WILL, HEART and LOOKS of TOM FUCKING BRADY! and develop him while Brady keeps winning Super Bowls.

In all, I think these former Patriots QBs have done well to still be in the league. Before the end of the season, all five of them could have started a game this season, which would be impressive. Flacco's health could thrust Mallet in as a starter and Jimmy's start is just a matter of when. Hopefully, Hoyer never have to start another game this season, in fact, as long as he's a Patriot.

In week 5 of this season, 3 of them started games, Cassel for the Titans against the Dolphins, Hoyer for the 49ers against the Colts, Brissett for the Colts against the 49ers.

Why do most of them not have success outside the Patriots system???

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