Story byDakota RandallTue, January 20, 2026 at 2:50 PM UTC·1 min readJarrett Stidham will face the Patriots on Sunday, but there’s a world in which he would’ve been on New England’s sideline for the AFC Championship Game. Stidham will fill in for Bo Nix this Sunday when the Denver Broncos host the Patriots for the right to play in Super Bowl LX. Of course, New England used a fourth-round pick on Stidham in the 2019 NFL Draft before trading him to the Las Vegas Raiders three years later. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDuring his Monday news conference, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel revealed he and other front office staffers considered a Stidham reunion last offseason.“I like Jarrett,” Vrabel told reporters. “I know that we did a lot of work on him in the offseason here of free agency.”The Patriots eventually signed veteran Joshua Dobbs as their backup quarterback.
