Will the New England Patriots hand the offense to second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham? Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

With Tom Brady gone, Patriots expected to spend little on new quarterback

By Erin Walsh | Last updated 3/18/20

The New England Patriots don't have many options at quarterback following Tom Brady's decision to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

They could go with second-year QB Jarrett Stidham or try to swing a trade for Andy Dalton or Jameis Winston.

Whatever they decide to do, no one will be able to fill the hole Brady has left at the helm of New England's offense. That big of a crater will take a long time to shore up, and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport suggested that on Wednesday morning.

From @nflnetwork: The #Patriots may move slow at the QB position as they try to replace Tom Brady, and it would be a surprise if they spent a lot of money to do it. pic.twitter.com/yTC8VSyjD8
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 18, 2020

"If they think Stidham is going to be the guy going forward, I wouldn't expect the Patriots to add anyone who's going to cost them a lot of money," Rapoport said. "I also wouldn't expect the Patriots to move quickly and just try to fill the hole. This is something that they're going to do deliberately, they're going to go through the process. I would expect them to add another quarterback, it's just not necessarily going to be someone who is going to cost them a lot of money."

It's no surprise that Rapoport believes the Patriots won't spend big at the quarterback position moving forward.

First of all, they wouldn't even give Brady the money he wanted to stay in New England.

Secondly, Bill Belichick is known to cut payroll in any way possible. We can see this in Brady's departure, Kyle Van Noy signing with the Dolphins and even Danny Shelton inking a deal with the Detroit Lions.

Going cheap isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Belichick is going to have to put in a lot of time and effort with both Stidham and a potential new QB if he wants to find success in the post-Brady era.

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