For the 2017 and 2018 seasons, Auburn football’s offense was led by quarterback Jarrett Stidham, ESPN’s No. 1 JUCO transfer on the market. After a rough first few games, Stidham found his footing with the Tigers and rose in the ranks of Auburn quarterbacks.
In 2017, Stidham won SEC Newcomer of the Year and led the SEC in completion percentage in addition to earning first-team SEC honors. He became only the second Auburn player to amass 3,000 passing yards in a single season and played in the 2018 Reese’s Senior Bowl.
After passing for 2,794 yards and 18 touchdowns in the 2018 season and earning MVP Honors at the Music City Bowl, Stidham was drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft as the 133rd pick to the New England Patriots.
For a little while, there was talk of the former Auburn quarterback leading the Pats in the wake of the loss of Tom Brady, but Cam Newton beat him out for the job after he was signed by Bill Belichik later that summer. Now, as Stidham enters his third year with the Patriots, he’ll have to beat out both Cam Newton and Mac Jones in order to be QB1.
According to AL.com, the arrival of former the Crimson Tide quarterback hasn’t changed the way Stidham views his job, and his goal is still to be an NFL starting QB:
"“Every day when I come in the building, my approach is to learn from the people around me,” Stidham said, “obviously, the coaches, the players that have been playing a long time in this league. Learn as much as possible and continue to grow, so drafting Mac hasn’t really changed my approach. I can control what I can control, and that’s how hard I work, how prepared I am, and those things haven’t changed, so like I said, my mindset has really been the same.”"
Though Stidham has yet to start in a game for New England, he participated in five games in the 2020 season and completed 22 of his 44 pass attempts for 256 yards and two touchdowns. Cam Newton is the expected starter at Week 1, but it’s widely thought that Mac Jones will eventually replace the Auburn football legend. However, Jarrett Stidham will not go down without a fight:
"“It definitely fires me up,” Stidham continued. “Last year bringing in Cam before training camp, that fired me up to continue to get better and continue to grow as a player, so 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 yeah definitely fired up to compete against those guys.”"
Though Stidham isn’t likely to see a starting role for New England with Mac Jones on the roster, the former Auburn football quarterback still intends to work hard and make a name for himself in the NFL.