Patriots
Grier performed the earlier two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.
One other day, one other quarterback touchdown in Foxborough.
In response to Christopher Value of The Boston Globe, New England signed Will Grier off the Cincinnati Bengals’ apply squad on Thursday night.
As soon as his signing is official, Grier will seemingly slot in behind Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe on the depth chart.
Listed below are 5 issues to find out about New England’s newest sign caller.
Grier has bounced across the NFL
After a profitable school profession at each Florida and West Virginia, Grier has slotted in as a depth quarterback throughout the NFL over the previous few years.
Grier, 28, was initially chosen by Carolina within the third spherical (a centesimal general) of the 2019 NFL Draft. He appeared in two regular-season video games with the Panthers in 2019, finishing 28 of 52 passes for 228 yards and 4 interceptions.
Finally, Grier performed two seasons in Carolina earlier than transferring on to the Dallas Cowboys, the place he served as a third-string possibility behind Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush in each 2021 and 2022.
He was one of many Cowboys’ closing cuts final month on the finish of preseason play, ultimately signing on with the Bengals’ apply squad earlier than touchdown in New England.
He made probably the most of his closing reps of the 2023 preseason
Grier drew the brief straw on Aug. 26 after the Cowboys traded for former top-3 choose Trey Lance in a cope with the 49ers.
With Lance taking up the QB3 spot in Dallas behind Prescott and Rush, Grier was destined to be one of many odd males out on roster cutdown day.
However with Grier’s time in Dallas coming to an finish, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy gave the QB the chance to play the entire crew’s closing preseason sport in opposition to the Raiders.
It was a gesture meant to present the 31 different groups within the NFL an prolonged take a look at Grier earlier than he hit the open market. And the QB made probably the most of his alternative.
In Dallas’ win over Vegas, Grier accomplished 29-of 35 cross makes an attempt for 305 yards and two touchdowns whereas additionally including 53 yards and two extra speeding TDs off of ten carries.
“That was the very best preseason quarterback efficiency I’ve seen since in all probability 1999, Matt [Hasselbeck], had some, a few of these, however I’m simply so pleased with him [Grier],” McCarthy mentioned postgame. “After I acquired the cellphone name [about the Trey Lance trade], after I hung up, I known as Will instantly, and that’s robust. I believed he dealt with it very effectively and, and I simply requested him to go on the market and play your ass off tonight.”
Grier will stick round in New England for a bit
The Patriots’ QB room has been a carousel during the last week, and that’s with one other proficient sign caller in Malik Cunningham already holding his personal on the apply squad.
On Monday, New England launched Matt Corral from the left crew/reserve record and Ian E-book from the apply squad, however reversed course and had been reportedly set to signal Corral to the apply squad on Tuesday. Nevertheless, that deal fell by on Wednesday morning, resulting in a emptiness on the roster.
Grier stands as the subsequent man up for the Patriots behind Jones and Zappe. However don’t count on him to be one other sudden departure as New England tinkers with its roster.
As a result of New England signed Grier off of one other crew’s apply squad, New England might want to carry him on their 53-man energetic roster for at the very least three weeks.
Because the Patriots proceed to mull their choices and attempt to establish the very best backup possibility behind Jones, these subsequent three weeks will give Invoice Belichick and Co. ample time to see what they’ve in a QB like Grier.
Grier may come in useful subsequent week in opposition to Dallas
Barring a slew of accidents, the Patriots seemingly gained’t have to depend on Grier to win them any video games below middle.
However the former Cowboys QB may nonetheless be a precious useful resource subsequent week with regards to prepping for an additional high-stakes matchup on Oct. 1 in opposition to the Cowboys.
Wins at the moment are at a premium for the Patriots following an 0-2 begin, and the Cowboys will current one other daunting problem for New England, particularly down at AT&T Stadium.
But when the Patriots need to craft a plan to decelerate Prescott and the Cowboys offense, a QB with an in-depth data of Dallas’ playbook and offensive scheme like Grier will come in useful, particularly on the scout crew.
The Patriots need to see what Grier can do as a possible backup transferring ahead. However any added intel he can present on the Cowboys stands as one other coup for New England.
Grier has some familiarity with the Patriots’ offense
It ought to come as little shock that the Patriots had been intrigued by a QB prospect like Grier again in 2019.
As noted by Chris Price, Grier advised reporters on the 2019 NFL Scouting Mix that the offense he ran at West Virginia had loads of similarities to the one put in by the Patriots.
*Truthfully, Jake Spavital, my OC at West Virginia, watched a number of Patriots movie and constructed our offense off a number of what they (do),” Grier mentioned. “Clearly, completely different terminology, however we’d see stuff and be like, ‘We’re going to try this.’ Tom Brady does all proper. So, we watched a number of Tom Brady movie.”
“In 2017, we had been very wide-spread oriented, which is type of what Spav. delivered to the sport from different locations he’s been. It’s completely different. So much what we did with the Patriots was we noticed they had been doing a number of tighter break up stuff, and so they had been getting free releases with guys, working isolations and completely different routes all the best way throughout the sphere.”
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