{"id":52098,"date":"2024-03-21T09:13:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T13:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=52098"},"modified":"2024-03-23T13:51:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T17:51:47","slug":"should-they-trade-back-patriots-may-already-have-a-solution-in-nathan-rourke-ahead-of-2024-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2024\/03\/21\/should-they-trade-back-patriots-may-already-have-a-solution-in-nathan-rourke-ahead-of-2024-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"If Patriots Trade Back, Nathan Rourke Could Be a Dark Horse at QB in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s been a lot of discussion in recent days about the New England Patriots<\/strong><\/a> potentially trading back in the upcoming draft, with some wondering if it makes sense to see what kind of haul they could get with the #3 overall pick.<\/p>\n

The first round of free agency certainly didn\u2019t go as well as some hoped.\u00a0 While the Patriots had plenty of cash and a desire to improve, they struggled to attract high-profile players.\u00a0 Most seemingly spurned the Patriots in favor of what they likely felt were more favorable situations, with the negotiations with Calvin Ridley sitting as a reminder that there are times where a player won’t always follow the money.<\/p>\n

As a result, it\u2019s still a team with plenty of holes to fill. They clearly still have needs at offensive tackle. They still need to find an impact receiver. They also still obviously need to figure things out at quarterback.<\/p>\n

That leaves Jerod Mayo’s football team with a difficult decision. They can either stick to the plan and take a quarterback next month or they can trade down with another desperate team like the Vikings or Giants for the sake of loading up on draft picks. The latter would at least give them a chance to address more areas of need this year, providing them with a much stronger foundation heading into next offseason.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that would also mean potentially forgoing the likes of Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, or J.J. McCarthy, leaving them with Jacoby Brissett for 2024 and without a clear long-term answer at quarterback heading into next season.<\/p>\n

However, what if the Patriots already have a potential solution sitting on their roster?<\/p>\n

The decision to claim former CFL quarterback Nathan Rourke off of waivers back in mid December could be one of the final moves by Bill Belichick that may provide an answer. Rourke, who walked away from that league at the top of his game at the end of the 2022 season in pursuit of an opportunity in the NFL, started that journey in Jacksonville before landing in New England.<\/p>\n

That surprising turn of events for Rourke came toward the end of 2023 when the Patriots jumped at the opportunity after his name popped up in the waiver wire.\u00a0 With Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe each struggling, the club made the decision to snatch him away from the Jaguars and bring him to Foxboro, likely hoping to finally add a quality player to their quarterback room.<\/p>\n

Rourke\u2019s arrival, at the time, certainly flew under the radar. It garnered little attention here, essentially amounting to a normal league transaction that simply added depth to a position that was definitely a mess at that point in the season.<\/p>\n

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\"Jacksonville<\/p>\n

(PHOTO: Corey Perrine\/Florida Times-Union \/ USA TODAY NETWORK)<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On the surface, it seemed like a smart move and his resume during his short time in the league was impressive. Rourke had a solid preseason in Jacksonville, with the former B.C. Lions quarterback holding his own against veteran backup C.J. Beathard. Overall, Rourke completed 23-of-35 (65.7%) for 348 yards, with a passing touchdown along with one rushing touchdown, finishing with the highest yards per attempt total that preseason for the Jaguars by a significant margin compared to his teammates at 9.9 (Lawrence was 8.0, Beathard was 8.2).<\/p>\n

However, Beathard seemed to be the player favored by head coach Doug Pederson, with Pederson eliminating any notion of a competition for the backup role<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0back in August, despite the push Rourke made that preseason.\u00a0That left Rourke disappointed, as the opportunity to compete to be the backup was one of the big reasons that out of the 12 teams he worked out for, Jacksonville had been his top choice. It also left Rourke at the bottom of the depth chart, which ultimately set up his departure.<\/p>\n

What was notable following the move was the reaction in Jacksonville. After a preseason that saw Rourke pull off one of the most impressive touchdown throws in recent memory<\/strong><\/a>, his loss left many people extremely disappointed.\u00a0 Rourke had seemingly built up a small contingent of fans who believed he should have possibly been the one backing up Lawrence instead of Beathard, with the Jaguars’ practice of only carrying two quarterbacks on the active roster ultimately costing them.<\/p>\n

Some of them even wondered if maybe Rourke could one day be a guy to possibly replace Lawrence, with some frustrated after seeing the quarterback’s touchdown total drop and his interception total nearly double as the Jaguars again finished 9-8 but missed the postseason.<\/p>\n

For now, they’ll never know. Rourke is instead a Patriot, and he’s been focused on getting ready for the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019m honored,” said Rourke back in December<\/strong><\/a> in his first meeting with the media. “It\u2019s a great organization. I have a lot of respect for this league and obviously a lot of respect for Coach Belichick and Coach O\u2019Brien. It\u2019s been pretty cool to be here so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Quiet Confidence<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Rourke also displayed some quiet confidence after arriving at Gillette Stadium, showing a little of that when reporters asked what he brought to the table with his new team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not big on tooting my own horn,” said Rourke, smiling. “So you\u2019ll just have to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he did in Jacksonville, Rourke worked hard behind the scenes after joining the Patriots.\u00a0 The newcomer quietly moved up the ranks before emerging as the backup quarterback behind Bailey Zappe in Week 18, which left Jones as the emergency quarterback in their final game.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, he ran out of time to show fans in New England anything, albeit it’s probably for the best.\u00a0 By then, their best receiver, Kendrick Bourne, was lost for the season, as was top tight end Hunter Henry, leaving them badly depleted.<\/p>\n

In the finale, it was DeVante Parker, Demario Douglas, Mike Gesicki, and Pharaoh Brown as pass catchers, as Bailey Zappe completed just 12-of-30 for 88 yards and 2 interceptions during New England’s 17-3 loss to the Jets at Gillette Stadium.\u00a0 Belichick clearly felt there was no point having Rourke get knocked around, and instead allowed him to continue learning to finish out the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, Nathan had a good week of practice,” said Belichick after the loss.\u00a0 “So we activated him for the second spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obviously, the team has since parted ways with Belichick, but the club did pick up Rourke’s exclusive rights free agent tender this offseason, which extended his run as a Patriot into at least next fall.<\/p>\n

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\"Nov<\/p>\n

(PHOTO: James Carey Lauder-USA TODAY Sports)<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What People Saw Last August Was the Norm<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Justin Dunk of 3DownNation.com<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>has covered Rourke’s journey extensively and offered some insight in an interview with PatsFans.com.\u00a0 While Dunk didn’t want to necessarily compare him to any of the other quarterbacks in the NFL, he did want to make it clear that the play everyone saw with the Jaguars in the preseason, where Rourke broke away from several defenders before tossing an incredible touchdown<\/strong><\/a>, wasn’t exactly an anomaly.<\/p>\n

In fact, Dunk said that making the most of things when things break down has actually been one of Rourke’s strengths over the course of his career.<\/p>\n

“I kind of hesitate to compare him to guys down there because people will say, ‘You know, you’re a Canadian guy kind of keeping up for Nathan Rourke,” said Dunk.\u00a0 “I just think if you look at his career and his mentality, and I’ll give you an example.\u00a0 So, the team that he was up with in the CFL, the B.C. Lions, where he really had that star year, if you go back and look at a bunch of that film, you’ll see, not exactly the same play that he made in the preseason there against Dallas, but some of those plays with more regularity, throwing the ball down the field, him using his legs, him scrambling out of things.”<\/p>\n

Rourke’s a player who is well-respected back in Canada, and he has a lot of people believing he can pick up where he left off in his final season and succeed in the NFL.\u00a0 In his final CFL campaign, Rourke completed 255-of-324 for 3349 yards along with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.\u00a0 He also carried 39 times for 304 yards while scoring 7 touchdowns in 2022 for the B.C. Lions.<\/p>\n

Those numbers were among the best in the league that season<\/strong><\/a>, and that came despite the fact Rourke missed a significant amount of time due to a foot injury, which ultimately required surgery.<\/p>\n

Looking at Rourke’s CFL film, Dunk isn’t lying when it comes to his ability to get away from pressure.\u00a0 The former Lions quarterback has incredible balance, often not going down on first contact while keeping his eyes downfield.<\/p>\n

There are a surprising number of instances over the course of his career where opponents have seemingly had Rourke wrapped up, yet he’s been able to power out of their grasp and move up field and make a play, where guys trying to arm tackle him just isn’t enough.<\/p>\n

The 6’2″, 210-pound Rourke is absolutely stronger than he appears, with exceptional lower-body strength and escapability, which is how he’s been able to improvise when things break down.<\/p>\n

He’s also incredibly tough and doesn’t fear the rush.\u00a0 Rourke had multiple examples where even with a player bearing down on him, he still stood in and delivered the football.\u00a0 One of those moments happened where Rourke made an incredible play during a postseason win over Calgary late in the second quarter, where he took a massive shot on a scoring strike to Alexander Hollins<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

With pressure coming from the inside, Rourke stood in the pocket and delivered an unbelievable throw as he was hit, with Hollins hauling in what ended up being a perfectly thrown ball in the right corner of the end zone for the score.\u00a0 That play put the Lions on top 13-6 and set the tone en route to a 30-16 semi-final win over the Stampeders.<\/p>\n

Dunk then went on to add that knowing how focused Rourke is about finding a role in the NFL, the Lions have lost hope that he’ll be back and believe he’ll see things through as he continues to battle for a starting role somewhere.\u00a0 Dunk also believes that knowing Rourke’s mentality, he believes that if he gets his shot to prove he belongs, he’s going to do everything he can to take advantage of it.<\/p>\n

“I think the real key there from B.C.’s standpoint is they were probably hoping that Nathan was going to come back north of the border,” said Dunk.\u00a0 “But they’ve gone ahead and signed Vernon Adams Jr. to be their franchise quarterback for the next three years and they essentially said [back on March 19th], ‘We think with Nathan’s mentality, that he might never be back here.’\u00a0 So I think that has showed a lot of people in the CFL that the Lions feel strongly that he’ll be down there for a while.”<\/p>\n

“Every step along the way,\u00a0 he’s been successful,” said Dunk.\u00a0 “So he’s worked along the way to kind of prove doubters wrong and I do think that if he gets that opportunity in the NFL, that he’s going to be prepared.\u00a0 I don’t want to say he’s going to be a long-time starter there because he’s going to want to prove it.”<\/p>\n

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\"Aug<\/p>\n

(PHOTO: Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports)<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

He’s Come A Long Way<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So far this offseason, Rourke has been away from Foxboro, but he’s already preparing to push hard to make a case for himself here in New England.<\/p>\n

After getting married about six months ago, Rourke and his wife, Emily, took some time when the season ended to finally enjoy a honeymoon.<\/p>\n

However, he’s now back in Canada working with throwing coach Rob Williams of Sport Core Performance<\/strong><\/a>, who he’s worked with for the last three years.<\/p>\n

The two have spent this week working together, and Rourke is expected to continue that work through next week.\u00a0 They’ve built a solid relationship, with Williams working with Rourke since his college days as he worked on improving his accuracy.<\/p>\n

That work paid off, as Rourke improved during his time at Ohio and then got better when he reached the CFL, finishing with a record-setting 78.7% completion rate in 2022.<\/p>\n

Williams, who has also worked with other notable young players, including Tennessee’s Will Levis, said in an interview with PatsFans.com that Rourke is coming off a strong first season and he’s grown quite a bit since he started training.<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s a good athlete,” said Williams of Rourke. “He\u2019s a natural mover, which is why I think a lot of his numbers at Ohio were on the athleticism side of things, as a dual threat. But his passing completion percentage and everything just weren\u2019t where they needed to be, and that was really the area that he and I, right from the start, we started focusing on.\u00a0 Just optimizing the efficiency of throwing.\u00a0 For him, he\u2019ll be the first to admit he wasn\u2019t a very efficient thrower.”<\/p>\n

“And with efficiency comes accuracy and velocity and stuff like that. So when you watch him throw the football now, after having just spent the last two and a half hours out on the field with him with – we\u2019ve got another CFL quarterback that\u2019s getting some NFL looks, he was out there and another University quarterback that played at a pretty high level nationally in Canada – and just to see the way Nathan throws a football now, even compared to these other two guys, that\u2019s the big thing now. ”<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Rob Williams (@qbmotion)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n