Why Jarrett Stidham was ‘fired up’ by Patriots drafting Mac Jones
With the New England Patriots selecting quarterback Mac Jones in April’s draft, the Patriots’ quarterback competition got even more competitive. As Jarrett Stidham told the media on Monday, the selection got his competitive juices flowing.
Stidham is no stranger to quarterback competition, with the Patriots bringing in Cam Newton at the beginning of July last year. Stidham did see limited playing time last fall, with Newton handling the starting job for 2020.
As he indicated during a meeting with reporters, New England bringing in Jones has pushed Stidham to continue to work hard and get better. With the Jones seeming to perform well over the last couple of weeks, this could make for an interesting quarterback competition with training camp on the horizon.
“Absolutely, it definitely fires me up,” Stidham said of Jones’ arrival and added competition. “Last year bringing in Cam before training camp, that fired me up to continue to get better and to continue to grow as a player. Definitely fired up to be competing against Mac, [Brian Hoyer] and Cam. It’s a great room. It’s a lot of fun to be in there. But definitely fired up to compete against those guys every day.”
It will be intriguing to see how this battle plays out, and where Stidham fits into the equation. One thing seems certain, he enjoys the competition.
