The New England Patriots have one of the best quarterback situations in the NFL, mainly because of one man: Tom Brady, reigning league MVP and best quarterback in all of football. Behind the 40-year old, the team currently has two other passers under contract in veteran Brian Hoyer and seventh-round draft pick Danny Etling — a solid but not exactly awe-inspiring group of backup options.
It seems, however, that the team is far from done scouting potential options at the position. According to a report by Mile High Sports' Justin Michael, free agent quarterback Austin Apodaca, who went undrafted during the 2017 NFL draft, visited the Patriots on Wednesday for a workout. One day earlier, the 24-year old had met with New England’s division rivals from Buffalo.
Before going unselected in last year’s draft, the 6’2, 210 lbs quarterback played for three different schools: He started his college career at Washington State before transferring to Mesa Community College before moving on to play for New Mexico. Apodaca spent two years with the Lobos as a rotational passer, completing 53% of his passes for not quite 1,400 yards, six touchdowns and eight interceptions.
While he was invited to the scouting combine, Apodaca failes to impress NFL teams enough for them to invest a draft pick in him. Instead, he went unselected and — after some interest by the Denver Broncos that never led to a contract, though — ultimately joined the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers. After the preseason, however, he was let go.
Apodaca spent all of the 2017 season out of football before taking part in the Spring League earlier this offseason. While him playing in the developmental league did not led to his first NFL contract, it did put him on the radar of at least two teams — one of which the Patriots, who might bring him in as low-cost competition for Brian Hoyer and Danny Etling.