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The New England Patriots have a problem that just about every other team in football would love: They have a talented young quarterback and a Hall of Famer in his way.Jimmy Garoppolo was magnificent in six quarters of action this season, upsetting the Cardinals in Arizona and slicing apart the Dolphins for a half before suffering a shoulder injury that is likely to keep him out Thursday night against the Texans. Even if he makes it back next week, Garoppolo is sure to give way the following week to Tom Brady, who will handle the starting duties the rest of the way, barring injury or a remarkable decline in performance.So, then what? When the season ends, the Patriots will most likely have a superstar quarterback entering his age-40 season with no public intentions of retiring and one entering his age-26 season with one year left on his rookie contract (and worth a lot in trade value). Now, nobody has moved on from his teams stars more ruthlessly than Bill Belichick -- and almost without fail correctly, too -- but he cant do that to Tom Brady, right??Right??And if you keep Brady, then, what do you do with Garoppolo? Its a fascinating question, and Im not sure theres a right answer. But there are scenarios. Lets run through the context by answering some questions, and see whether we can gain any insight into the bigger picture and the future of the Patriots. Starting with the really, really short term ...Would playing Thursday night have been worth the risk?We now know Garoppolo isnt expected to suit up, but lets give a little background. Reports suggest Garoppolo has a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder, which is an incredibly painful injury. Other reports have suggested that the Patriots were pressuring Garoppolo to be available for the game -- thats obviously not the case -- noting that Brady has played through a similar injury in the past.Brady most recently played through a sprained AC joint (also known as a separated shoulder) during the 2011 playoffs, but that was in his nonthrowing shoulder. Brady suffered a first-degree separation of his shoulder in December 2002 and played through it, but it didnt go well. Brady posted a passer rating of 91.7 in the 13 games before separating his shoulder. He separated his shoulder in Week 15 and put up a passer rating of 59.2 over the final three games of the year while also suffering a second-degree shoulder separation in Week 17. Brady then subsequently underwent shoulder surgery in 2004.Its possible to play through a sprained AC joint at a certain level of severity, as Ben Roethlisberger did during the 2015 playoffs, but it would have been shortsighted and foolish in this case. Even if Garoppolo comes back for Week 4, the Patriots are almost surely better off going with Jacoby Brissett on a short week. Now, if Brissett gets hurt and the Pats have to go to?Julian Edelman under center, that might be another question. I suspect the Patriots at least wanted the Texans to think there was a shot Garoppolo would play Thursday night, if only to give them something else to think about in practice this week.Has Garoppolo really played that well?Brilliantly, in fact. Better than anybody could have realistically expected. Through two weeks, he leads the league with a 91.1 QBR, more than seven points ahead of second-placed Matt Ryan. He has completed more than 70 percent of his passes and averaged 8.4 yards per attempt, throwing four touchdowns without tossing a pick. And perhaps most impressively, Garoppolo has done all of this without the best player on the roster, Rob Gronkowski, who has missed the first two games with a hamstring injury.Garoppolos statistics are backed up by a closer look at how he has performed on tape. I wrote about his performance against the Cardinals after Week 1, but against a lesser opponent in Miami, Garoppolo looked like a seasoned veteran. The biggest concern for an inexperienced quarterback will always be finding out how he handles blitzes and pressure, and Garoppolo passed that test in Week 2 with flying colors. The Dolphins blitzed him on 37.0 percent of his dropbacks and got pressure on 40.7 percent of Garoppolos pass plays, a higher percentage than any other quarterback in football faced last week.While the third-year quarterback naturally had moments where he struggled to account for the pressure -- he shifted a protection to move James White away from where the blitz eventually arrived, as an example -- he was calm and collected in a way that other veteran quarterbacks with far more experience struggle to emulate. He didnt have the sort of preternatural footwork and feel for the rush in and around the pocket of a 15-year veteran like Brady, but Garoppolo rarely panicked, even when there was a free rusher in his face or Marcus Cannon locked up and needing a reboot.Watch Garoppolos first pass of the game, where a rusher comes clean and Garoppolo doesnt flinch while finding Edelman for an easy first down. Thats a sign of Garoppolos toughness, but even more so, its a measure of his discipline. There are plenty of guys in the league who feel that defender bearing down on them and try to escape the pocket to get away. Garoppolo kept his eyes upfield. That weighs on the minds of defensive coordinators: If you can scheme to get a guy totally free with a blitz and the quarterback doesnt care, what can you do to rattle him?Garoppolo did get plenty of help from offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, whose second stint as a head coach is surely coming sooner rather than later. After picking apart overmatched Cardinals cornerback Brandon Williams in the opener, McDaniels cooked up a scheme designed to stretch Miamis linebackers, notably weakside linebacker Jelani Jenkins, who was coming off of an August knee scope and was walked around the middle of the field by New Englands receivers.McDaniels does a great job of showing one look early in a game and taking advantage shortly thereafter by playing off of that concept with an adjustment. On the first drive of the game, he set up a play-action pass?that amounted to a screen, with Martellus Bennett sprinting horizontally across the formation away from the play fake behind a pair of wide receivers blocking downfield. (If you think this is offensive pass interference, well, youre not wrong.) It went for 26 yards when Reshad Jones took a bad angle to Bennett and was tripped up by a fallen Jenkins.On the first play of New Englands second drive, McDaniels showed the same look, drawing three Dolphins defenders toward Bennett, only for Garoppolo to drop an easy crossing route over their heads to a wide-open Chris Hogan for 19 yards. Later on, the Patriots went play-action and managed to get three receivers wide open: Bennett, who ran past an overpursuing Jenkins (who then slipped trying to catch up) on a shallow cross; Edelman; and special-teams star Matthew Slater, who torched Xavien Howard on a deep post. Garoppolo passed up the easy completions to go for the glory, but he overthrew an open Slater by a couple of yards.What McDaniels has done without his stars has been downright impressive. Without Gronkowski and his formidable blocking skills, the Patriots have gone with three-wideout sets more frequently than they likely intended after acquiring Bennett. Instead of bringing on a lesser tight end to telegraph running plays, theyve motioned Edelman into the backfield almost as an H-back and used him as a lead blocker alongside Bennett at times. Theyve used RPOs (run-pass options) designed to give Garoppolo simple one-read decisions from the shotgun. Garoppolo has contributed plenty, but McDaniels ability to scheme at his opponents weaknesses should be of some comfort to Patriots fans who are worried about Brissett on Thursday night.So ... what happens after 2016?Heres where it gets juicy.In a perfect world, the Patriots would hold on to Brady until hes no longer interested or able to play and move on to Garoppolo, who would hold the job for a decade. Theres a chance it breaks that way, but the NFL is not a perfect world. For contractual reasons, its far more likely that the Patriots have to make a move with Garoppolo before Bradys time is up, one conspiracy theory aside.Lets start with the current starting quarterback. Before this season, Brady renegotiated his deal to drop his base salary while paying him a $28 million signing bonus. The move was seen as a way to reduce Bradys financial exposure to a four-game suspension, but the structure also revealed that Brady isnt going anywhere anytime soon. If Brady is not on the Pats roster in 2017, his cap hit would rise from $14 million to $27 million in dead money, making the idea of Brady retiring or leaving the team a nonstarter. Its feasible in 2018, when the Patriots could cut his cap from $22 million to $14 million in dead money if he left, but the more plausible likelihood is that Brady is off the roster in 2019, when his cap hit would fall from $22 million to $7 million. (And if hes still on the roster by then, chances are the Pats will have renegotiated his deal.)Garoppolos deal is much simpler. Hes in the third year of a four-year rookie contract that will occupy just $1.1 million of New Englands cap in 2017. After that, he will be an unrestricted free agent with no fifth-year option, given that Garoppolo was a second-round pick. The Patriots do as impressive of a job managing their cap as any team in football, but money is getting tight with their young defensive core coming up for extensions this offseason.What would Garoppolo get on the open market as a free agent? My answer to this question a year ago would have been a bunch of question marks, but we have a useful reference point now, and its the quarterback the Patriots will face on Thursday: Brock Osweiler, who hit free agency at 26 after 305 league-average pass attempts spread over four years. Osweiler picked up a four-year, $72 million deal that really boils down to two years and $37 million in guarantees from the Texans. Its too early to say whether Houston will end up being happy with its purchase, but Osweiler basically got league-average starter money with a limited track record.We dont know what Garoppolo will do over the next two years, but if he doesnt take another snap, hell hit the market with 91 pass attempts of excellent game tape and superstar-rate statistics. He has posted a 108.6 passer rating on those throws. The sample size is smaller than Osweilers, but he has played at a much higher level on the attempts he has made. I think it would be fair to say that teams would roughly value him at around the same level as Osweiler. With two years of salary-cap inflation on the books between the 2016 and 2018 free-agent periods, its not crazy to imagine Garoppolo looking at two years and $40 million or so in guarantees as part of a longer-term deal, just based on what he has done already.Thats a prohibitive sum for the Patriots and their cap situation; they just cant pay Brady $22 million of their cap in 2018 and throw Garoppolo another $20 million as a backup. The natural follow-up for Pats fans is to hope that Garoppolo follows in Bradys footsteps and takes less money to try to build a better team, but the context is very different. By the time Brady was deliberately taking notably smaller deals than he could have extracted, he already was a national superstar, had millions of dollars in sponsorships and, crucially, had made it through multiple contract extensions. Theres nothing in the reports about his 2002 contract or his 2005 extension to suggest that he was getting anything less than market value. This might be Garoppolos only shot at getting the sort of money that guarantees him lifetime financial security. It would be professionally irresponsible and imprudent for Garoppolo and his agent to take even upper-tier backup money, which would then be in the $8 million range, in the early years of Garoppolos next extension.Garoppolos agent, by the way, might be the key to making this all work with the Patriots. His name is Don Yee. His most famous client, of course, is Brady. Its in Yees interest to keep both Brady and Garoppolo happy, and its in the Patriots interest to have one of them under center for as long as possible. The chances of an orderly transition are higher than they would be with competing agents, and the Patriots already have a healthy enough relationship with Yee to make the act of negotiating a bit easier.At the end of the day, though, its hard to believe that Yee would advise his client to leave $20 million in guaranteed money of his second contract on the table to stay with the Patriots. The best thing for Garoppolo is going to be to start regularly for a team paying him a lot of money. And the Patriots might not be able to offer either end of that bargain anytime soon.What if the Patriots decide to move on from Garoppolo?Heres where we have to really start guessing. If the Patriots dont want to pay Garoppolo what he would make on the free market (or close), or if they think they can do better with a different long-term Brady replacement, or if they really think Brady will play until hes 45 years old, theyll either trade Garoppolo or let him leave as an unrestricted free agent. The question then becomes a matter of how much different sorts of compensation are worth to New England.If Garoppolo hits unrestricted free agency before the 2018 season and gets the sort of contract I mentioned above, he will almost surely net the Patriots a third-round compensatory pick in the 2019 draft. In addition, by holding on to Garoppolo, the Patriots also would get one additional year in 2017 of an above-average backup at a huge discount on what it would cost to procure a quality veteran backup (about $6 million per year), let alone a worthwhile starting quarterback. Thats our baseline return for the Patriots.The other alternative is to trade Garoppolo after this season, with a year to go before free agency, to a team in need of a starting quarterback. That is a group that is likely to include the Jets, Browns and 49ers, with secondary options such as the Bears, Dolphins and Washington as possible suitors. These teams would be trading for Garoppolo on a one-year deal at about $900,000. Instead of paying Garoppolo that one-year deal, though, the teams would be likely to use it as leverage to negotiate a new long-term deal for a smaller amount of money than what Garoppolo would have picked up as an unrestricted free agent.Those trades were in popular fashion years ago, although the rookie cap has since capped first contracts for players. While several current starting quarterbacks were acquired via trade, none were acquired under similar circumstances to Garoppolo, as a buy-low opportunity for a player who has looked promising as a backup on a rookie deal. The closest current example, I suppose, would be Blaine Gabbert, and Gabbert doesnt really compare in terms of style or career path.You have to look at the recent past for comps, and there are a few. Matt Cassel is the most obvious one, as the only drafted Patriots quarterback to deliver a meaningful return after some impressive performances on a rookie deal. Cassel took over one of the best offenses in league history and struggled early before settling in, with the 16-0 Patriots falling to 11-5 despite returning the vast majority of the other starters from the previous year. His numbers were right around league average after adjusting for era. With Cassel about to hit unrestricted free agency, they sent veteran linebacker Mike Vrabel with Cassel to Kansas City and picked up the 34th overall pick in that years draft, a high second-round pick.The Texans found their quarterback when they made a deal with Atlanta for Matt Schaub, who had thrown 161 passes over his first three seasons at a much less impressive rate than Garoppolo. Schaub had as many touchdown passes as interceptions (six). They swapped the eighth pick with Atlanta for the 10th overall selection and also nabbed two second-rounders for their troubles. According to Chase Stuarts draft pick value calculator, in valuing those picks as mid-second-rounders, Houston sent 39.7 points of value and received just 21.4 points of value in return. That 18.3-point difference is roughly equivalent to the 13th pick of the draft on its own. They also gave Schaub a six-year, $48 million deal the following day.Looking back further, you would have to head toward Matt Hasselbeck, whom the Seahawks acquired in 2001 by dealing the 10th and 72nd selections in exchange for the 17th pick and Hasselbeck. This valued Hasselbeck as being worth the 42nd pick, which is a mid-second-rounder. Hasselbeck eventually became a star in Seattle, but at the time, he had thrown just 29 pass attempts in three seasons in Green Bay. As a sixth-round pick, he was far more of a flier than a second-rounder like Garoppolo.Just based on the evidence, and given the existence of a quarterback market that valued an average-to-worse veteran on a market deal like Sam Bradford at the level of a first- and fourth-round pick, I suspect the Patriots would have little trouble getting a first-round picks worth of value for Garoppolo. That might not come as a first-rounder from a team selecting in the upper half of the draft -- the Patriots might have to take it as a pair of second-rounders from a team like the Browns -- but Garoppolos team-friendly contract (and long-term contract leverage) and level of play make him a valuable commodity.For the Patriots, only they can know whether it would be better to take a first-round pick for Garoppolo now or a third-rounder in two years. It will depend on a lot of things that have little to do with Garoppolo. They have a better idea of whether Brady is really going to make it to 45, or if Brissett can be a useful backup quarterback for four years on the cheap.The reality is this: If they keep Garoppolo past 2017, it will almost definitely have to be as part of a clear succession plan for Brady. You simply cant pay two really good quarterbacks. And even given how great Garoppolo has looked in limited time this year, the idea of a Patriots team without Brady for an entire season is still plenty scary for Pats fans. Custom Chicago Cubs Jerseys . Note: The Calgary Flames announced Tuesday that Sean Monahan would not be made available to Canadas World Junior team. Joe Maddon Cubs Jersey . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. http://www.thecubsteamshop.com/Cubs-Jose-Quintana-Kids-Jersey/ .25 million option on reliever Jose Veras. Kendall Graveman Cubs Jersey . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. Javier Baez Jersey . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. T.J. Perkins?was certainly not given the easiest road to connect with fans as a pure good guy in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic. After dispatching Da Mack in a brief but enjoyable match, Perkins had to square off with three of the most popular guys in the tournament field on his way to the finals.Each of those three curried great favor with the crowd at Full Sail University, and going up against that trio of wrestlers in particular presented unique challenges for Perkins. It wasnt perfect, as the crowd struggled at times to fully support both competitors in each round, but through the quality of his matches and the different stories Perkins managed to tell in the ring, he won the fans over by the time he squared off with Gran Metalik in the finals.That persistence is exactly the kind of thing you get from the man known as TJP -- nose to the grindstone and pushing toward his goals, no matter the obstacle. With that mentality, it has been easier for Perkins than it is for most to not get overwhelmed by a big moment such as?winning the inaugural CWC,?and that should serve him well as he appears on Monday Night Raw on a weekly basis.I try to stay in the moment, Perkins said in an interview shortly after his CWC win. At the Cruiserweight Classic finale, I said ... I dont know if people had looked it up, or if they had heard it before, but it was an old Zen proverb. Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, you chop wood, carry water.It can be interpreted a lot of ways, but for the most part its about staying in the moment.The Zen mindset that helped Perkins survive homelessness and motivate himself despite great obstacles would have served his fans well the past couple weeks. Despite his victory in the CWC and owning the new WWE cruiserweight championship, Perkins didnt appear on Raw as the cruiserweight division debuted last week. He appeared on the pre-show, along with a backstage, web-only video with new No. 1 contender Brian Kendrick, but we had to wait an additional six days to see his main roster debut at the Clash of Champions pay-per-view.That wait paid off, as Perkins showed off a brand new 8-bit video game-inspired entrance theme and video presentation prior to his match Sunday. That helped drive home how big of a deal his debut really was.Perkins was still very much in the moment, and his one-day-at-a-time demeanor helped him showcase, along with Kendrick, why the cruiserweights are able to have matches that dont feel out of place on a pay-per-view -- by taking each opportunity as it comes and doing the most with it.Things will come and go, and your life will go on, but you dont want to get too ahead of yourself, Perkins said. I used that as a way to view each round of the Cruiserweight Classic so I didnt get ahead of myself and stayed in the moment. I see it the same way, in terms of the opportunity to go to Monday Night Raw. Ill take each moment as it comes, and Ill wait for the bridge before I have to cross it.Thats not to say Perkins is taking this chance for granted, though.Its really exciting to be able to represent the cruiserweights and go to Monday Night Raw. I grew up watching Monday Night Raw, and its really a big dream of mine to perform on that stage, Perkins said. The talent there is so incredible. Im in good company, and Im excited for it.WWE is happy to point to Perkins experience, with 18 years in the ring and countless big matches. But when determining value within the company and with the fans, it comes down to the same baseline (with certain and expanding exceptions in the modern era): If it didnt happen here, it didnt happen, as Jerry The King Lawler so eloquently put it during Sunday nights broadcast.Thats part of why the CWC was such a big deal for Perkins and the other 31 competitors.I think this is the biggest spectacle weve ever had, in regards to representing cruiserweights, Perkins said. I was so thrilled with how everything came about and to be part of it.Despite it being the first tournament of its kind in WWE history, bringing in 32 talents who werent (to that point) under contract to square off on WWE airwaves, the tournament format is nothing new to wrestling or the WWE. There have been dozens of tournaments to determine champions and contenders over the years, to say nothing of the spectacle that was King of the Ring.In the modern era, tournaments of note have largely migrated to independent wrestling organizations, which is part of the reason the CWC was significant. Hardcore wrestling fans will know about events such as Pro Wrestling Guerillas Battle of Los Angeles, and New Japan Pro Wrestling has large chunks of its calendar set aside for a number of tournaments of note.Its insane because so much of what I do has been based off of my heroes and guys that I watched come up, and most of them started as cruiserweights, Perkins said. When they were doing similar things to this, thats what kind of inspired me to do [what I do].I grew up watching Super J-Cup tournaments and things like that, and those were pretty cool, he continued, referencing one of NJPWs most prominent, if infrequent, events. They had a mystique about them, but they were few and far between. That added to their mystique.The CWC had a lot of history come before it, but the unique circumstances in which it was set up and the rarity of tournaments in WWE prior to the launch added a level of curiosity and value to the competition and to the wrestlers who will make up Raws new cruiserweight division.En route to his victory, Perkins experienced positivity that balanced the occasional struggle to connect with the fans as a good guy. In his second-round match with Johnny Gargano and in his third-round match with Rich Swann, Perkins was across the rring from guys who were not only his friends but also guys he had faced numerous times before.ddddddddddddYoure in there with guys youre friends with, and theres a certain camaraderie about being able to be in the ring in front of so many people, Perkins said. Sometimes, youre literally saying to the other guy, Do you remember in that beer hall not that long ago? This is pretty ridiculous, to be on a different stage.There is a certain drawback to that familiarity, however, and thats the possibility of complacency and repeating what they have done in the past. Perkins, Gargano and Swann, in particular, seemed up for the task.Youd think itd be kind of tough because you know each other so well, and some of the old tricks dont apply when thats the case, Perkins said. I think it makes the chess game of performing more interesting because now you have different things at your disposal [with this kind of setting] that you wouldnt otherwise be using, and so, as a performer, you look forward to those types of things.Wrestling fans might not always consider how much work goes into a match such as that, whether the opponent is familiar or a new challenge. For Perkins, there isnt much time to linger on a match, no matter how much positive reaction might come of it. To continue to perform at that level requires work that goes far beyond staying in peak physical condition and perfecting a move set.Yeah, Im a nerd, man, Perkins said. Im such a workaholic and really an intense student of all this, so even now, at this stage, I relentlessly try to watch footage and replay things. I still bring my notebook everywhere, and I fill it with what probably looks like nonsense if you were to read it back. Im constantly watching and reviewing stuff.Being a student of the game makes you acutely aware of a big moment when you see it. When you find yourself inside that kind of big moment, as Perkins did just before the start of the CWC final, it brings to the surface a number of thoughts and feelings.That was beyond words how crazy that was, Perkins said of?Triple Hs reveal of the new cruiserweight championship. You could kind of tell, I dont know how the sound translated on the broadcast, but the building was literally shaking, and people were going nuts. Ive never seen people go so nuts for a little bit of hardware, but its a pretty prestigious thing.The final match between Perkins and Metalik had a buzz and energy to it from the very beginning, thanks in part to that introduction, but also because of the 30 matches that culminated in that moment and the meaning they had to competitors and fans alike.From the moment the bell rang at the end, all I could think about was everything I went through to get there, Perkins said. About collecting coins in the parking lot when I was homeless, being evicted, you know, all these different things, and I think it was at that moment with Triple H and Mr. Regal that it [felt real].Perkins found himself, in a rare moment, getting caught up in everything that came to his mind.Then I started thinking about all my heroes, and I just had flashbacks to when they finally got their moment, he said. Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 12, Eddie Guerrero over Brock Lesnar when he won the title. I think about what I saw in them -- I was enamored with their emotion and how they must have felt. I sort of was beside myself a little bit while I was reviewing those in my head and thinking, Wow, somebodys watching me like that right now. A lot of people were.Rather than becoming overwhelmed by what he had achieved or settling for this as a career highlight, Perkins thought equally about his past and his memories. He knew what kind of effect watching events such as the CWC had on him while he was growing up, and its equally interesting to considering what effect this tournament could have on the next generation.Theres probably some kid out there thats going to come to the Performance Center someday, Perkins said. Or enroll in some wrestling training and get started on the regional level, and theyre going to look at this [tournament] and say, Thats why I wanted to do it. Its really incredibly humbling to be honest.Despite the flashiness of his new entrance or the swagger often on display in the ring, its hard to not notice how appreciative Perkins is of this opportunity -- both when watching him on screen and when talking to him away from the bright lights. That is made clear in the way he carries himself.Someone had said to me before I was going out for the finals, they said, You dont look nervous at all. And I dont get nervous over things, Perkins said. The thing is, being homeless makes you nervous. Struggling like that, that hardship, that makes you nervous because you dont know if youre going to get over that. This? This is not hard. This is fun. Im in heaven now.Perkins hasnt had to worry about homelessness in a while, thanks to his work before he joined the WWE full time, and especially since that point. His ability to put the pressures and stresses of performing every week for millions of people into perspective by considering his past and the alternative of where things were and where they could have gone has served him well. It has also helped him to stay the same person who became such an appealing target for WWE to sign, the same person who has been pegged to anchor the new WWE cruiserweight division.At the end of the day, I come home and watch Netflix like everybody else, he said. Ill be a little bit more busy, but in a good way. Its a dream job, but its not going to be much of a change [to how I work]. Im just happy to be along for the ride. ' ' '