What Mike Vrabel sees in Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham

As the New England Patriots prepare to face the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, they will have to get ready for a bit of an unknown at quarterback. Jarrett Stidham, who hasn't thrown a pass in a regular season game since 2023, will get the start for the Broncos after Bo Nix suffered a fractured ankle in the divisional round.

That being said, Stidham is not an unknown to this Patriots' coaching staff - far from it. In fact it was the Patriots that drafted Stidham in the fourth round in 2019 out of Auburn, when Josh McDaniels was in his previous stint as offensive coordinator. Head coach Mike Vrabel also shared on Monday that the Patriots had done some work looking into Stidham this spring before free agency, before he ultimately re-signed with the Broncos.

"I think he sees things really well. I think he's athletic enough to extend, like we talk about a lot of quarterbacks," Vrabel said on Monday of Stidham. "[His] accuracy. I think the decision-making – he’s really decisive in the games that we went back and watched. This is even going back to when I was in Tennessee as well."

While it's been three years since Stidham recorded a pass attempt in a game, he's not completely inexperienced. He's appeared in 20 games in his NFL career, including making four starts between 2022 and 2023.

The first of those two game in 2022 for the Las Vegas Raiders, when McDaniels was the head coach. Then, he started two games the next year for the Broncos.

Between a few backup appearances with the Patriots and those games, Stidham has completed 117 of his 197 career pass attempts (59.4%) for 1,422 yards with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. He's 1-3 in his career as a starter.