The New England Patriots have one less quarterback/wide receiver on their depth chart after waiving Danny Etling on Tuesday.
The 2018 seventh-round draft pick came to the Patriots as a quarterback who played four years of college football -- two at Purdue and two at LSU (where he finished). Etling tried to make the transition from quarterback to wide receiver/special teams in training camp over the last few weeks, and now he's out of a job.
The Patriots will use the open roster spot from Etling's departure to add tight end Eric Saubert, who they acquired from the Atlanta Falcons via trade Monday.
Let's take a quick look at the updated quarterback depth chart for the Patriots with Saturday night's preseason game against the Tennessee Titans approaching.
QB1: Tom Brady
QB2: Brian Hoyer
QB3: Jarrett Stidham
Brady is entering his 20th NFL season and coming off his sixth Super Bowl title. He had a down season in 2018 by his lofty standards, but still managed to complete 65.8 percent of his passes for 4,355 yards with 29 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Pro Football Focus recently graded Brady as the league's best quarterback again.
Hoyer spent the first three seasons of his career behind Brady before moving to a few other teams. He returned to New England in 2017 and has been Brady's backup ever since. Hoyer looked pretty good in the Patriots' 31-3 preseason win over the Detroit Lions last week. He completed 12 of 14 pass attempts for 147 yards and two touchdowns.
New England Patriots
Stidham, who the Patriots selected out of Auburn in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, also played very well in the victory against the Lions. He threw for 179 yards and one touchdown on 14 completions. Stidham has impressed throughout training camp, too. It's not outrageous to think Stidham could be the backup sooner than expected.
Keeping Etling on the roster just didn't make sense for the Patriots with three quarterbacks and many wide receivers ahead of him on the depth chart.
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