Jimmy Garoppolo

So there was a nuclear accident in North Korea yesterday reportedly killing 200 people but all the news in New England will be about the trade of the Patriots back-up QB - Jimmy Garoppolo. We have have priorities in Boston.

The trade was Garoppolo to the 49ers for a 2018 2nd round draft pick and Brian Hoyer. Make no mistake Hoyer was absolutely part of the deal. There's no way the Patriots don't add a back-up QB to the roster with the trade of Garoppolo and the 49ers don't release Hoyer without the trade. Both things are part of the same transaction.

All the news today will be bemoaning that the Patriots didn't get enough back in return for Garoppolo. Do yourself a favor and stay away from Boston sports talk radio today (and everyday for that matter).

The bottom line is this is Tom Brady's team and the Patriots will only go as far as Brady can take them. That's true for 2017, 2018 and 2019. Jimmy Garoppolo was never going to unseat Tom Brady as the starter so in reality he had at most 8 more regular season games holding a clipboard in Foxborough. They were never going to be able to sign him this offseason without using the Franchise tag which is something they didn't wish to do. So the Pats did him a favor and traded him to his hometown team the 49ers.

Did New England just trade Steve Young in order to keep Joe Montana? You'll probably hear that analogy today at some point but truth is situations are very different. Montana missed all of the 1991 season and played just 1 game in 1992 before being traded to Kansas City to finish up his career. Tom Brady, meanwhile, was the Super Bowl MVP last year and this season statistically he's the best QB in football.

I wish Jimmy Garoppolo all the best. I hope he's everything Pat fans envisioned. And I hope that the Pats make other trades today because they really could use a better pass rush.