Pats have developed QBs quite well. Brady, Cassell, JG, Hoyer, and Brissett all started in the NFL. Even Stidham. Pretty good for a list of mostly later draft picks over 20 years.
Who is still on the Patriots staff that was involved in developing Brady, Cassell, JG, Hoyer, and Brissett? For that matter, who was responsible for drafting as well as developing them?
There was a time there when the Patriots seemed to have a pretty good business model developing rookie QBs as backups and trading them to other teams. Now it seems the team owner doesn’t entirely trust his coaching staff to develop his own team’s QB.
Cassel was drafted with pick 230 (7th round) in 2005; in 2009 he was traded to the Chiefs with Vrabel for pick 34, after four years with the Pats including starting the entire 2008 season when Brady was injured in the first game, losing the AFC East title on the fourth tiebreaker.
Garoppolo was drafted with pick 62 (2nd round) in 2014; in 2017 he was traded to SF for their second round pick (pick 43) after starting the first two games of the 2016 season before getting injured, when Brady was suspended.
Hoyer was a 2009 UDFA rookie signing; he was cut in 2012 after Ryan Mallett won the backup QB job.
Brissett was drafted with pick 91 (2nd round); he was traded to the Colts for Phillip Dorsett who had been pick 29 as a rookie two years earlier.
Ryan Mallett was another rookie QB that the Patriots drafted, got several seasons out of as Brady’s backup, and then traded. Mallett was drafted with pick 74 (third round) in 2011; in 2014 he was traded to the Texans for a conditional sixth round pick, after Garoppolo was drafted and won the backup job.