Patriots worked out former New Mexico QB Austin Apodaca?

[PatsWickedPissah]

If Etling is no good (that is, has no future with the patriots), why would we put him on the Practice Squad? I would think that we would look around and sign someone else.

Depends on the degree of no good.
His style might lend itself to running the scout QB role against some opponents. Typical PS QB duty.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Depends on the degree of no good.
His style might lend itself to running the scout QB role against some opponents. Typical PS QB duty.

Except that for most of the decade the Pats have had only 2 QBs on the roster, and zero on the PS.

 

[captain stone]

If Etling is no good (that is, has no future with the patriots), why would we put him on the Practice Squad?

Hasn't stopped them before.

 

[mgteich]

It's not really a question of Etling being "ready".

Between now and the end of Camp, either Etling will show at least enough development potential to take over Hoyer's backup role in 2019 or 2020 - or he won't. If he doesn't, there's not much point to putting him on the Psquad.

OTOH, if he does, the Pats will almost certainly keep him on the 53-man, unless injury circumstances elsewhere on the roster are such that they need to risk getting him through waivers to the Psquad.

Hasn't stopped them before.

list, please

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

i'm doing a early 53 & don't have Etling on it. I think he's a PS body

 

[Kontradiction]

so

what does that have to with wanting to bring in another camp arm

Camp competition = good.

BTW, If Etling sucks, he IS NOT headed for the Practice Squad.

Not necessarily. Most players on practice squads across the league are not good football players when compared to their peers on active rosters.

 

[mgteich]

i'm doing a early 53 & don't have Etling on it. I think he's a PS body

at best

 

[mgteich]

We're not deal with "most players". Clearly most players cur by other team or on their Practice Squads are "not good football players" compared to those that weren't cut. The question is whether in all the players cut and all the players on practice Squads, whether any are better than Etling or a better et for tour Practice Squad.

Not necessarily. Most players on practice squads across the league are not good football players when compared to their peers on active rosters.

 

[captain stone]

If Etling is no good (that is, has no future with the patriots), why would we put him on the Practice Squad? I would think that we would look around and sign someone else.

Hasn't stopped them before.

list, please

Thanksdad Ferentz, off the top of my head.

 

[maineman209]

Doesn't seem like pushing him through to the PS would be that big a risk. I mean, unless he completely kills it in preseason (which isn't likely). I doubt anyone else was even going to draft him.

Also, ready in this context meant ready to be on the 53 man.

I have no information about whether another team would have drafted him or not, so I'm not qualified to speak to that.

However, the fact that the Pats drafted him, rather than waiting to sign him as a UDFA may indicate that the Pats had knowledge that one or more other teams were interested in him. If that interest is there during final cutdowns, a waiver claim is entirely possible. In any case, there's always a risk. Nobody thought that the Pats would claim a TE who was destined for season-ending IR off waivers, but they did.

As far as Etling's potential pre-season performance goes ...

Let's say he gets in 8 quarters of work over the 4 games, throws ~60 passes total at about 6.9 yards per attempt, and with a completion percentage of about 65%. He throws one TD & one pick, and gets sacked 6 times for total losses of about 20 yards.

Would that be "killing it"? Would that make him ready for the 53-man (taking into consideration that it has, at times, been a fairly low bar)?

 

[maineman209]

Except that for most of the decade the Pats have had only 2 QBs on the roster, and zero on the PS.

The Pats had a QB on the PS for a couple weeks last season.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Apodaca is really bad! No idea why we would bring this kid in for a look,

 

[maineman209]

Apodaca is really bad! No idea why we would bring this kid in for a look,

I was serious earlier when I suggested the Pats may have been doing a favor for his agent.

Agents are more or less obligated to get their clients "job interviews" whenever possible. Chances are that Apodaca's agent also reps one or more current and/or former Pats rostered players, so having Apodaca in for an evaluation is in the interests of maintaining a good working relationship.

On March 9th this year, the Pats had five guys come in at one time for tryouts:
- Alex Carter
- Matt Darr
- Cole Toner
- Storm Norton
- Owamagbe Odighizuwa

This same set of guys also tried-out together last season on October 9th (Carter and Toner made the PS for a couple-three days). They're almost certainly all repped by the same agent.

Also, especially at this time of the off-season, sometimes these "tryouts" are not just a thumbs-up/thumbs-down deal. The team often provides the "prospect" with a kind of performance review. Nothing necessarily elaborate, but something along the lines of, "here's what we think you should work on improving in order to be useful to us".

Either way, I wouldn't ascribe any particular significance to this.

 

[Deus Irae]

If Etling is no good (that is, has no future with the patriots), why would we put him on the Practice Squad? I would think that we would look around and sign someone else.

If you want a PS QB, and Etling doesn't make the cut to 53, he's your PS starter by default. You'd have to find that someone else you viewed as an upgrade (either current or potential) before permanently jettisoning Etling would make sense in such a scenario. Obviously, since you're talking PS players at that point, you could play musical chairs with a PS QB in an attempt to find that upgrade, but that would still have Etling as the default/measuring stick.

Naturally, if having a PS QB isn't an end in itself for this season, Etling's post-cut location becomes irrelevant, if the team feels he has no future in N.E..