Friday night the New England Patriots shocked the world when they took Jimmy Garoppolo, a quarter-back out of The University of Eastern Illinois, with the 62nd overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Much of America, who cares about the NFL, was certainly a little taken a back by this pick, seeing as the Patriots currently have the greatest QB of all time playing for them right now.

Now I am one of the biggest Tom Brady fans of them all, but even I know if the Patriots want to stay competitive, they are going to have to start looking to the future. Brady is 37 years old, with a contract that has him with the Pats through the year 2017. As much as I would like to believe it, Tom Brady is not immortal. He has an expiration date just like the rest of us.

Brady has two or three more seasons left at which he will be at the top of his game. Once 40 rolls around he won’t be the same. Its just how things work. That’s where Garoppolo steps in.

“I’m gonna go to work everyday as if I’m a starter and just try my best.”

Garoppolo said in an interview after being selected.

Coach Bill Belichick said after the pick,

“I don’t we would put together a team the way Indianapolis put together a team when they lost Manning and they go 0-16, 1-15 or whatever it was.”

Three years under Bill Belichick’s coaching and Brady’s watch, Garoppolo could easily be the next greatest thing to happen to Boston sports.

That being said, he cannot go into these next couple of seasons thinking , hey this is going to be great being Brady’s backup. If you look back to the year 2000 when Brady was drafted, the Patriots had already had their franchise quarter-back Drew Bledsoe. Brady could have been comfortable with being just the backup, but he wasn’t and when he got his to shot, he never looked back.

Garappolo needs to have that same mentality. He may not start this year, or the next, or even the year after that, but his mind set needs to be that his is trying to take Tom Brady’s job. That will make him the next greatest quarter-back ever.