Jimmy Garoppolo is struggling at Patriots training camp
Aside from the signing of Darrelle Revis, the drafting of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round was the biggest splash of the early off-season for the Patriots. The selection spawned speculation and theorizing that the end was near for Brady, and that his successor had arrived out of Eastern Illinois.
But according to consistent reports coming out of training camp, Garoppolo has not looked like an NFL-ready quarterback to this point. His struggles at the end of last week were summarized well by Mike Saver in a training camp recap on Friday. Fumbles, bad passes, and inaccuracy have characterized Jimmy's performance thus far. The only thing he has appeared to do really well is carry Tom Brady and Ryan Mallet's shoulder pads.
Today, Boston Herald Pats beat writer Jeff Howe reported that Garoppolo saw a sudden downturn in his reps, only throwing two total, which is surprising. Given his struggles to this point, you would think he would be given the chance to throw more passes and refine whatever mistakes are causing these sub-par results.
In all fairness, this is his first training camp and bumps in the road can be expected, particularly for a kid coming out of a small school like Eastern Illinois into one of the NFL's most successful franchises. And it appears Patriots coaches and executives expect these kinds of mistakes, and are more interested in how the player responds to them than the fact he is making them in the first place.
Globe Sports writer Rob Harms wrote Sunday on what the team looks for in Garroppolo once he makes errors on the practice field. The piece came a day after a particularly difficult practice in which the rookie QB threw three interceptions. Heavily quoted in the article is Director of Player Personnel Nick Caserio, who had this to say on Garoppolo's progression so far:
Today's sudden decline in reps is somewhat puzzling, and it will be interesting to see if it is a trend that continues through the week. When Garroppolo was drafted many thought it surely meant the end of Ryan Mallet's time in New England, but Bill Belichick emphasized they had no intention of letting Mallet go quite yet. While it's still extremely early, with each fumbled snap and errant pass over the middle from Jimmy, the decision to keep Mallet is looking wiser by the day.
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| AP Photo |
But according to consistent reports coming out of training camp, Garoppolo has not looked like an NFL-ready quarterback to this point. His struggles at the end of last week were summarized well by Mike Saver in a training camp recap on Friday. Fumbles, bad passes, and inaccuracy have characterized Jimmy's performance thus far. The only thing he has appeared to do really well is carry Tom Brady and Ryan Mallet's shoulder pads.
Today, Boston Herald Pats beat writer Jeff Howe reported that Garoppolo saw a sudden downturn in his reps, only throwing two total, which is surprising. Given his struggles to this point, you would think he would be given the chance to throw more passes and refine whatever mistakes are causing these sub-par results.
Garoppolo only threw two passes in team drills all practice. 0-1 in both 7-on-7 and 11-on-11. Strange downturn in reps.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) July 30, 2014In all fairness, this is his first training camp and bumps in the road can be expected, particularly for a kid coming out of a small school like Eastern Illinois into one of the NFL's most successful franchises. And it appears Patriots coaches and executives expect these kinds of mistakes, and are more interested in how the player responds to them than the fact he is making them in the first place.
Globe Sports writer Rob Harms wrote Sunday on what the team looks for in Garroppolo once he makes errors on the practice field. The piece came a day after a particularly difficult practice in which the rookie QB threw three interceptions. Heavily quoted in the article is Director of Player Personnel Nick Caserio, who had this to say on Garoppolo's progression so far:
That position [quarterback] gets magnified, because they touch the ball on every play,” Caserio said Sunday morning of New England’s 22-year-old second-round pick. “So the ball’s in their hand, they’re making a decision, they’re making a read. There’s a lot of other people that are involved in the play. I mean, you have the tight end, you’ve got the receivers, you’ve got the running back — so part of it is, ‘Are they doing their job as well?’ So it all has to fit together. There’s a lot of moving parts on every play, so it’s a step-by-step process.
“You’re really just trying to build, you’ve established a foundation, build on that, go out there, execute it. Hopefully if you make a mistake, you eliminate the mistake, or figure out why you made the mistake, and then move forward to the next play.”
“If you look at any really any player on the field, regardless of position — quarterback, receiver, running back — I mean, everybody’s gonna have their share of good plays, and everybody’s gonna have their plays that maybe aren’t as good. That’s part of the process,” Caserio added.
He said that Garoppolo’s progression is no different than any other player’s.
“If you don’t execute it at a good level, then you go back in, you watch the film, you make the correction, and then you look to see, ‘OK, is there improvement? Did we learn from what we did previously?’” Caserio said. “So really that’s what you’re looking for with any player. It’s not specific to a position or to a player. That’s just the approach to the team.”
Today's sudden decline in reps is somewhat puzzling, and it will be interesting to see if it is a trend that continues through the week. When Garroppolo was drafted many thought it surely meant the end of Ryan Mallet's time in New England, but Bill Belichick emphasized they had no intention of letting Mallet go quite yet. While it's still extremely early, with each fumbled snap and errant pass over the middle from Jimmy, the decision to keep Mallet is looking wiser by the day.
@LC_NEP
@PatriotsLife
