Rourke now a NE Patriot

[Hambone]

It's pretty clear Hank wants to pursue an NFL coaching career. He jumped all over that NFL diversity program for coaches fairly quickly after retiring as a player. In some ways he's like a coaching version of Rourke. Even when he briefly held that role with BC he was going to do it remotely from his home in Chicago. After Jacksonville didn't bring him back he joined the Rams as Asst Tight End Coach. He's obviously willing to pay his dues in pursuit of his goal and coaching in the NFL is far more lucrative than in the CFL.

[Hambone]

Looking far more likely that Rourke won't get a futures offer from New England. I read an article today on ESPN that said the Pats are not considering trading down an taking a QB later. They are expected to go with whoever the Bears and Commanders pass on out of Williams, Daniels and Maye. All 3 are thought to be elite prospects with there being a huge drop off to the next tier. With that in mind they will be looking for a veteran to back the rookie up. I don't know if they will rely on Mac Jones for that or will go shopping. Jones does have 1 more year left on his deal at $4.959M cap hit.

[SammyGreene]

Looking far more likely that Rourke won't get a futures offer from New England. I read an article today on ESPN that said the Pats are not considering trading down an taking a QB later. They are expected to go with whoever the Bears and Commanders pass on out of Williams, Daniels and Maye. All 3 are thought to be elite prospects with there being a huge drop off to the next tier. With that in mind they will be looking for a veteran to back the rookie up. I don't know if they will rely on Mac Jones for that or will go shopping. Jones does have 1 more year left on his deal at $4.959M cap hit.

And Lions no longer hold his CFL rights I believe as last season would have been the final year of his rookie contract. He will undoubtedly find another NFL landing spot but I wonder if McElvoy has some sort of contingency funds set aside should his two star players south of the border suddenly become available between now and September.

[Toppy Vann]

Looking far more likely that Rourke won't get a futures offer from New England. I read an article today on ESPN that said the Pats are not considering trading down an taking a QB later. They are expected to go with whoever the Bears and Commanders pass on out of Williams, Daniels and Maye. All 3 are thought to be elite prospects with there being a huge drop off to the next tier. With that in mind they will be looking for a veteran to back the rookie up. I don't know if they will rely on Mac Jones for that or will go shopping. Jones does have 1 more year left on his deal at $4.959M cap hit.

And Lions no longer hold his CFL rights I believe as last season would have been the final year of his rookie contract. He will undoubtedly find another NFL landing spot but I wonder if McElvoy has some sort of contingency funds set aside should his two star players south of the border suddenly become available between now and September.

I suspect that if Rourke were to return to the CFL he'd look at what was best for him and starting right away.
His strong connection to BC and the Lions would not override that decision despite working out with QB Motion coach Rob Williams in North Van.
If VA is still winning BC would not dump him or trade him nor should they.

You got that right about NE from all the articles over the last day or so.

FOXBORO -- Armed with the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots will meet with all three of the top quarterback prospects -- USC's Caleb Williams, North Carolina's Drake Maye, and LSU's Jayden Daniels -- at this week's NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.3 days ago

Intriguing idea of Nathan Rourke back to Jacksonvile. It'd make sense not that that puts him closer to actually playing with CJ Beathard there but Trevor Lawrence got banged up a bit last year and they need him to not turn over the ball. I always thought some of that might be due to his nagging injuries last year. The risk if Rourke was there that as a 3rd QB they might be a lot more reluctant to take him from the PR to the active only to have him scooped again. Matt Barkley type stats over his career is less likely to be grabbed off waivers.

This 2024 look at QBs for the Jags didn't look to that option but noted the 3rd QB is an FA in March:

Backup quarterback C.J. Beathard started one game, a 26-0 Week 17 home victory over the Carolina Panthers, and completed 17 of 24 passes for 178 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions in the game.

Matt Barkley is 33 and is a free agent March 15.

https://www.jaguars.com/team/players-ro ... t-barkley/

https://www.jaguars.com/news/on-to-2024 ... arterbacks

[Hambone]

Looking far more likely that Rourke won't get a futures offer from New England. I read an article today on ESPN that said the Pats are not considering trading down an taking a QB later. They are expected to go with whoever the Bears and Commanders pass on out of Williams, Daniels and Maye. All 3 are thought to be elite prospects with there being a huge drop off to the next tier. With that in mind they will be looking for a veteran to back the rookie up. I don't know if they will rely on Mac Jones for that or will go shopping. Jones does have 1 more year left on his deal at $4.959M cap hit.

And Lions no longer hold his CFL rights I believe as last season would have been the final year of his rookie contract. He will undoubtedly find another NFL landing spot but I wonder if McElvoy has some sort of contingency funds set aside should his two star players south of the border suddenly become available between now and September.

BC's rights to Rourke would have expired at the end of the term of his contract which would have been Feb 13, 2024. It's possible Betts could be available between now and September. For all intents Rourke is available now. Because of his ERFA status New England holds his NFL rights for 2 more weeks but he's free to sign in any other league.

Regardless I wouldn't expect him to think about the CFL again before at earliest September of 2025. That would mean he's gone through 2 full seasons and a 3rd training camp which might put him at a reflection point. Even then with 2/3 of the CFL season being in the bag I think he'd stay down south thru the end of the season to see if something pops up. If nothing does then he will cast his eyes north. IMO the best time for him to return to the CFL would be in the middle of the offseason all 9 teams can take a hard run at him if they desire. In mid-season his options will be much fewer.

The only thing that would turn that line of thinking upside down would be if once he's free to field offers from other NFL teams when New England's ERFA rights expire in 2 weeks he fails to get any offers. I don't see that happening. Somebody will be signing him. He will go to training camp and get more preseason action to show his stuff. Unless he falls flat on his face that will lead to at worst another season of PS duty. If he lands in a place where the starter has some injury bad luck then he's another step closer. Or maybe he can land on a team with a long term veteran who is more willing to go with a backup of minimum experience?

[Hambone]

Intriguing idea of Nathan Rourke back to Jacksonvile. It'd make sense not that that puts him closer to actually playing with CJ Beathard there but Trevor Lawrence got banged up a bit last year and they need him to not turn over the ball. I always thought some of that might be due to his nagging injuries last year. The risk if Rourke was there that as a 3rd QB they might be a lot more reluctant to take him from the PR to the active only to have him scooped again. Matt Barkley type stats over his career is less likely to be grabbed off waivers.

This 2024 look at QBs for the Jags didn't look to that option but noted the 3rd QB is an FA in March:

Backup quarterback C.J. Beathard started one game, a 26-0 Week 17 home victory over the Carolina Panthers, and completed 17 of 24 passes for 178 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions in the game.

Matt Barkley is 33 and is a free agent March 15.

https://www.jaguars.com/team/players-ro ... t-barkley/

https://www.jaguars.com/news/on-to-2024 ... arterbacks

The other aspect of a Jags return is that Beathard is going into the final year of his 2-year deal. Despite his detractors he did exactly what a team wants out of their #2. He came in when called upon, managed the game and protected the ball. Now if Rourke went back to Jax and spent a 2nd season on the PS Pederson could be comfortable moving on Beathard and make Rourke #2 for 2025.

One point of order on the PS. NE was able to pluck him off waivers when Jags tried to move him from the active roster back to the PS. Being on the PS doesn't make the player immune from being raided. Part of NE's sudden interest in Rourke was due to the fact LA Chargers had raided Will Grier off their PS the day before. That was 1 week after Baltimore raided them of Malik Cunningham. What stops teams from raiding practice squads more often is that they have to immediately put the player onto their 53 man roster.

[B.C.FAN]

According to NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, New England is re-signing Rourke before he becomes a free agent.

[Hambone]

According to NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, New England is re-signing Rourke before he becomes a free agent.

Well my supposition didn't age well. I hate burning my annual mistake so early in the year.

[South Pender]

According to NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, New England is re-signing Rourke before he becomes a free agent.

Yes, B.C. Fan, I just read that (link below). Unlike when he went to the Jaguars who had a high-quality starting quarterback, he will now be with a team with two mediocre QBs--Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. The expectation is that NE will draft a QB this time around, but the QB room might be such that he will get a chance to play in NE.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... han-rourke

[Hambone]

According to NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, New England is re-signing Rourke before he becomes a free agent.

Yes, B.C. Fan, I just read that (link below). Unlike when he went to the Jaguars who had a high-quality starting quarterback, he will now be with a team with two mediocre QBs--Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. The expectation is that NE will draft a QB this time around, but the QB room might be such that he will get a chance to play in NE.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... han-rourke

Scratch Mac Jones.from the New England equation. Patriots are reportedly trading him to of all places.....drum roll.... Jacksonville, for a 2024 6th round pick.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/396 ... es-jaguars

[SammyGreene]

Scratch Mac Jones.from the New England equation. Patriots are reportedly trading him to of all places.....drum roll.... Jacksonville, for a 2024 6th round pick.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/396 ... es-jaguars

Damn so all season long we heard Doug Pederson say CJ Beathard was their guy behind Trevor Lawrence despite getting a long look at Rourke through week 14. Then he sees Mac Jones as an upgrade at No. 2 who is slotted to make $2.7 million on the final year of his rookie deal.

And didn't they replace Rourke with their 2022 practice roster QB? Man it's a tough uphill climb as an undrafted QB to be taken seriously by an organization.

[B.C.FAN]

Scratch Mac Jones.from the New England equation. Patriots are reportedly trading him to of all places.....drum roll.... Jacksonville, for a 2024 6th round pick.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/396 ... es-jaguars

Damn so all season long we heard Doug Pederson say CJ Beathard was their guy behind Trevor Lawrence despite getting a long look at Rourke through week 14. Then he sees Mac Jones as an upgrade at No. 2 who is slotted to make $2.7 million on the final year of his rookie deal.

And didn't they replace Rourke with their 2022 practice roster QB? Man it's a tough uphill climb as an undrafted QB to be taken seriously by an organization.

I don't see much hope for Rourke in New England if, as expected, they draft a QB with the third overall pick and bring in an NFL vet to mentor and back him up. Rourke would start no better than No. 4 on the depth chart behind Bailey Zappe, who took over the starting job from Mac Jones in Week 13 of the 2023 season.

[Toppy Vann]

Flipping the channels the other night I hit the Boston news station doing a good bit on Mac Jones by two different commentators none of them mentioning Nathan Rourke even in passing.

But what one guy said was interesting in speaking about the 25 year old Mac Jones graduating QB class was that 3/4 of them are not doing that great in the NFL as of now. That was in the context of this draft year at QB looks good to NFL eyes.

If we know anything about Nathan Rourke for sure, is how he'll make some great money upcoming this year and most importantly, he's not afraid of competition. He's still working his tail off off season I think with QB Motion Rob Williams.

I doubt there are more QBs more focused who work on passing technique and accuracy than Nathan Rourke.

He just needs that first break. The downside is the NFL taking a high QB draft pick will let the guy play irrespective of the outcome.

[Hambone]

have to wait to see who NE brings in as a veteran backup. I think Zappe also is in a bit of a tight spot, not necessarily performance-wise but perhaps in terms of asset management. He may need to beat out the incoming vet to secure a spot.. One thing we do know is NFL teams don't like to carry 3 QBs on their active roster. In 2023 18 out of 32 teams used only 2 QBs, and in a couple of cases only 1. Of the 14 who used more than 2 many still carried only 2 but had to activate someone from the PS to backup #2 who had to take over as starter.

That has me wondering what NE would do with Zappe if he didn't beat out the vet for #2? Would they burn a spot on the active roster if they didn't plan on suiting him up? Would they try to sneak him onto the PS? To do so they'd have to waive him at the end of camp and hope nobody claims him. Would he sign a PS agreement or take his chances as a free agent? If he did agree to go on the PS how long might it be before a team gets hit with a QB injury and decides to come a-raiding?

If Zappe and Rourke are close in the coaching staff's mind at the end of camp Rourke might be the safer one to keep while trying to swing a trade for Zappe.

[DanoT]

The way I look at it, with Mac Jones gone that's one less QB that Rourke has ahead of him on the depth chart. For sure the Pats draft a QB but not for sure they sign a veteran QB. So perhaps 1st round drafted QB starts and Zappe and Rourke battle it out for backup QB.