BOSTON – As is the custom every few years, the trade market is heating up for Tom Brady’s backup quarterback, with several teams positioning to make offers on the latest guy they hope may somehow play exactly like Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo, due to simply being on the same roster as Brady.
“It’s hard not to be excited about what this guy could develop into,” said one GM whose team will put in a bid on the 25-year old who has thrown 94 passes in the NFL in three season. “In the Pros category I have: ‘Could be the next Tom Brady.’ You can’t beat that. And in the Cons I have: ‘May just be a super-hot Matt Cassel.’ There’s no way to really say which it will be. We hope it will be the Brady one, though. That would be awesome.”
Past backups to Brady over the quarterback’s 15 seasons as a starter that were hot commodities include Matt Cassel, Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett, all who ranged from horrible on other teams to just pretty bad. Yet the list of suitors for Garaoppolo remains long.
“I just love the idea that the Patriots have developed an exact replica of Tom Brady for us and are now making him available via trade to any team in the NFL,” said one rival GM. “Why they would give away a sure superstar at the NFL’s most important position when their starter is 40, well … I can’t claim to understand their reasoning. I’m just happy they’re doing it.”
Other player personnel execs admit they’re interest in Garoppolo is simply out of laziness.
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to identify a talented, young quarterback and then develop him?” said an AFC East scout. “It’s exhausting and rarely works. But here Bill Belichick may have done the leg work for us. This Garoppolo could be great if Belichick liked him. And if he sucks, well, we can just blame it on Belichick. We’ll have given it our best shot. What more can we really do than trade for Brady’s backup and hope he’s as good as Brady?”
