Felger: Patriots Will Have 'Their Aaron Rodgers' In Next Two Years
BOSTON (CBS) - Future hall of fame quarterback Tom Brady will be 37 by the time the 2014 regular season starts.
The Patriots brought in two of the top college quarterbacks to Foxboro on visits Wednesday.
Coincidence?
Tom Brady still has elite level play left in him for the next few years, and by the Patriots "loading up" this offseason hopefully that ends in another Super Bowl title if you're a fan of the team.
Teddy Bridgewater, Johnny Manziel, A.J. McCarron and Blake Bortles may not be the next franchise quarterback, but the process to find out who is has already started.
This year feels much different to Michael Felger than in years past. He thinks if not this year, then next year the Patriots will have their guy.
"This one is different. The Patriots [under Belichick] have never drafted guys who were considered at the top of the draft class. They've always been in the second or third tier at the highest over the last 14 years. This is the first year they're bringing in guys who could go in the top 10, so this one is different.
"Do you want to know why? They. Are. Going. To. Draft. A. Quarterback. And. A. Good. One. They're not going in for Ryan Mallett this time. And they're not going in for Kliff Kingsbury and that kind of guy. They're not drafting Kevin O'Connell. They. Are. Drafting. The. Next. Guy. It's coming."
Felger's reasoning is that it's been so long since the team has had to seriously look at college quarterback prospects, and if you're planning on drafting the next franchise guy you better start to acclimate yourself to the vetting process.
In between the retirements and un-retirements of Brett Favre, the Green Bay Packers took this quarterback out of Cal by the name of Aaron Rodgers with the 24th pick in the 2005 draft.
Rodgers sat behind Favre for three seasons before finally getting his chance in 2008. Two years later he's a Super Bowl winner and considered the best in the game. The Packers seamlessly went from one Super Bowl winning quarterback to their next Super Bowl winning quarterback.
Rarely does it happen that way, but next to Joe Montana/Steve Young, that's the gold standard for a quarterback succession plan -- something the Patriots must strive to do, and do it within the next two years by Felger's reasoning.
"In one of the next two years they are drafting Aaron Rodgers. They are gonna draft their version of Aaron Rodgers. The next guy is about to be drafted by the Patriots either this year or next," Felger concluded.
Listen below for the full discussion:
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