Bill Belichick on Justin Herbert: “He has all the tools”

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The Patriots have faced some very good young quarterbacks in recent weeks, from Lamar Jackson to Deshaun Watson to Kyler Murray and, now, to Chargers rookie Justin Herbert.

“He’s impressive — very talented player, tall, sees things well, has a good arm, can certainly make all the throws,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick told reporters on Tuesday. “He’s athletic, can escape the pocket, smart. They do a number of things at the line of scrimmage. You’ve seen him check plays, audible against pressure, change plays against check-with-me-type situations. So it looks like he’s going be a good quarterback for a long time, a lot to work with and I know he’s a smart, hard-working kid that likes football and I’m sure he will continue to get better, as he has this year throughout the course of the season. He’s improved from the early games that I’ve watched, and like I said, has a lot of good skill players to work with – good tight end, good backs, good receivers. So, yeah, he’s a good player.”

Belichick acknowledged that the Patriots evaluated Herbert prior to the draft.

“I think he’s got, like I said, all the tools,” Belichick said. “I think you saw that at Oregon. Even in the bowl game, he did about all he could do and did it well.”

Herbert has done it all very well this year, even though the wins haven’t followed. Chances are Herbert will do it well again this weekend, and the win likely won’t follow.