Drake Maye impressed during his first summer in the NFL, but Jacoby Brissett will handle starting quarterback duties for the Patriots to start the year. A change in the pecking order midway through the campaign would still come as no surprise, though. 
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Brissett signed a one-year deal in free agency to operate as an experienced option in New England’s post-Mac Jones QB room. The team turned aside considerable interest for the No. 3 pick, selecting Maye and in doing so making him the central figure in their offensive plan. Head coach Jerod Mayo praised Maye’s performance in training camp and the preseason, but leaning on Brissett early on will allow New England’s O-line and receiving corps to develop without Maye on the field.
With that said, Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald reports it is considered a matter of “when” and not “if” Maye takes over at some point relatively soon in the 2024 season. The North Carolina product entered the league as one of the younger signal-callers in his draft class with plenty of mechanical adjustments being deemed necessary. Mayo said Maye “outplayed” Brissett in the build-up to his starter’s decision (a comment he has since walked back to an extent), and he left the door open to a quarterback change depending on how Brissett starts the year.
The 31-year-old made three appearances with the Commanders last season, but his most recent first-team action came in 2022. Brissett served as the Browns’ starter to begin the campaign while Deshaun Watson was suspended, working under offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt during that time. Overall, he has racked up 48 starts in his career, one which began with New England in 2016. The former third-rounder served as a full-time starter twice with the Colts, but most of his recent campaigns have seen him primarily handle backup duties.
Signs still point to that being the case once again in 2024, particularly if Brissett were to struggle during his first few starts. Maye is under contract through 2027 at a minimum, whereas Brissett is a pending free agent. The latter thus has plenty at stake for the coming campaign, but how long he remains atop the depth chart will be an ongoing question once the season kicks off.
I think we need to start asking the questions Drake Maye the best NE Rookie QB of this era?
Here’s what Mac Jones did as a rookie so you can see what he’s competing with: he completed 352 of 521 passes (67.6% completion percentage) for 3,801 yards, 22 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, with a passer rating of 92.5, and he went 10-7 as a starter. They made it to the wildcard round of the playoffs, but got absolutely spanked by the Bills, 47-17.
I know Jones wasn’t a top end elite talent but for a while he sure looked like he was going to be a capable NFL starting QB and then Bill screwed him up. It’s a real shame and I hope he gets another shot at starting somewhere down the road. That said, long term it may work out better for the Pats since their train wreck of a season led them to getting a top talent like Maye.
I agree, but I would amend the statement to reflect the role that Matt Patricia and Joe Judge (and, surprisingly, Bill O’Brien) all played in there as well. Belichick of course deserves blame for the former two, and his doubtfoundedly absurd idea to hand a sophomore quarterback with no real supporting cast to those two, but their own incompetence directly snubbed Jones’ development and the offense as a whole. So I’d throw their names in there for recognition purposes.
I wonder what it would take to consider Brissett as “struggling” given the pathetic nature of the Patriots’ offense. Even Mahomes would “struggle” with this group…
He shouldn’t get anywhere close to the field if this o-line plays like they have I’m not risking a bad injury for this team that’s going to sux no matter who plays at QB hell I’d put Milton in over may that way if he’s decent they can trade him in the offseason