I agree that it takes the training wheels off of Mallet, but I wouldn’t automatically assume he’s going to beat Brady out in four years. Brady’s not giving up the job until it’s taken from him and I think it’s possible he can play at an elite level for at least another four years.
Mallet will have to continue to improve or else he could be gone before he even gets a chance to take the job from Brady. He certainly has an elite arm, but there have been plenty of QBs with elite arms that fail. It’s really the perfect situation right now for Mallet and he must take advantage of it and take note of how hard Brady is still working. If Mallet shows that kind of commitment it’s certainly possible that he’ll really start to push Brady in the next few seasons.