Though the Patriots drafted Drake Maye at No. 3 overall a couple of months ago, head coach Jerod Mayo made it clear during the offseason program that veteran Jacoby Brissett was the team’s starting quarterback at that point.
As New England begins training camp, that has remained the same.
“Coming out of the spring, I don’t think there’s any doubt — Jacoby is the starting quarterback at this point in time,” Mayo said in his Tuesday press conference. “We can look at these other quarterbacks on the roster, at the same time it’s about competition. So, when we get out on the field this summer with the pads on, we’ll see how it all plays out. But coming out of the spring, I think it’s clear that Jacoby is the most pro-ready guy we have. He’s played a lot of football.”
However, the door is not closed on Maye potentially usurping Brissett as QB1 over the next month.
“Look, and this goes to any position, if he comes out here and he lights it up — and once again it goes back to the quality of reps — it could absolutely happen,” Mayo said. “I sit here and tell you, coming out of the spring, Jacoby looks like the starting quarterback. Now with that being said, he’ll have competition. Let’s not forget about even Joe Milton, let’s not forget about [Bailey] Zappe. All those guys will have opportunities to go out there and be the starting quarterback in Week 1.”
While it seems far from realistic that Zappe or Milton, a sixth-round rookie, will be New England’s starter, Maye’s progression will be a consistent storyline throughout camp — if not his entire rookie season.
“The goal for Drake is to get better each and every day,” Mayo said. “And it’s not a straight line up to the top — there will be ups and downs. But if you look left to right [on a chart], you hope that if he started here [further down], he’s here [further up].
“And once again, if he comes out here and he takes full advantage and lights it up, he could be the Day 1 quarterback. But like I said, coming out of the spring, I think it’s Jacoby.”
So when will Maye be ready to take over for Brissett?
“To me, it goes back to the same word: it’s competition,” Mayo said. “It’s not about everyone else. It’s about does this guy go out and perform better than Jacoby — no matter who we’re talking about. And so, I mean, that’s the way I kind of see it.”
