Belichick: Patriots Have 'Pretty Good Feel' for Jarrett Stidham, Brian Hoyer

Bill Belichick addressed the media on Monday for the first time since Tom Brady departed the New England Patriots in free agency for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last month.

The future Hall of Fame head coach told reporters during a conference call on Monday that he and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels "certainly have a pretty good feel" for 2019 fourth-round pick Jarrett Stidham and veteran backup Brian Hoyer.

Belichick continued:

"We've spent quite a bit of time with Brian and Stid. The circumstances will be different this year, and we'll see how everything plays out. To start with, I think the main thing is to give everyone a chance to compete, to get people comfortable with the skills at the position they're playing, the communication that's involved. We'll evaluate the players as we get an opportunity to evaluate them."

Hoyer signed with the Pats in late March on a one-year contract following his release from the Indianapolis Colts. It will be the 34-year-old's third stint in New England.

Belichick did not name a starter for the 2020 season.

Brady had been the Patriots starter since 2001, winning the most Super Bowl titles as a player (six) and earning three NFL MVPs during that span.

In other words, uncertainty under center is new territory for Belichick and Company.

"Over the last two decades, everything we did, every single decision we made in terms of major planning was made with the idea of how to make things best for Tom Brady," Belichick added Monday. "Now that being said, we've had several situations where we had to play and knew Tom wasn't going to be the quarterback."

He continued:

"In those situations, we adapted what we had to the player and geared everything towards what was best for him. Just like we always geared everything for doing what was best for Tom, to help our offense. I don't really see that changing, whoever the quarterback is, we'll try to make things work smoothly and efficiently for that player and take advantage of his strengths and skills. Whatever things that particular player does well, we'll try to work towards and feature, or at least give him an opportunity to do those."

Brady missed all but one game in 2008 due to a knee injury and then missed the first four games of the 2016 campaign while serving a suspension stemming from Deflategate.

This is still different from when the Patriots had to adjust, as Brady won't eventually be taking over the starting job. New England is looking for the next franchise quarterback. Whether Stidham is just the bridge before the Patriots find their guy remains to be seen.

Stidham has the backing of Devin McCourty, one of the team's captains:

The Patriots did not have the salary-cap space—they have the second-least amount to work with at just over $2.1 million—to sign or trade for a veteran quarterback, but there has been speculation from the likes of ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. that New England could use the No. 23 overall pick in the 2020 draft to address quarterback.