The New England Patriots will enter the 2024 NFL season with Jacoby Brissett as their starting quarterback. After a competition through training camp and the preseason, the veteran quarterback ending up beating out rookie first-round pick Drake Maye for the job.
While he won the Week 1 starting job, that does not mean that he will keep the job throughout the rest of the season.
Jeff Howe, a national NFL insider for The Athletic, certainly thinks that Patriots fans will see Maye at some point during the 2024 campaign.
In a recent article, Howe revealed that Maye will “almost certainly” take over as the starter at some point this season.
“There’s curiosity among rival teams with the way head coach Jerod Mayo publicly handled the quarterback battle between Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye. But regardless of all that, no one really felt strongly either way over who should have been the Week 1 starter because the offensive line is shaping up to be a potentially insurmountable problem. Maye will almost certainly take over as the starter at some point this season, but the variables between the team’s record and the line’s performance have made it a guess as to when that would happen.”
Letting Maye sit to start his rookie season may not be anything about him getting beat out for the starting job. It might simply be a developmental tool.
Far too often, rookie quarterbacks have been thrown out on the field too early. They have taken too many hits, made a few mistakes and lost their confidence, and many other negative things. New England may simply be trying to avoid those things with Maye.
They might also be leery of following the same tactics that they employed with Mac Jones.
It’s also possible that Mayo and the coaching staff just thinks Brissett is more prepared to be the starter to begin the year. That’s a possibility as well.
Either way, it would be shocking to not see Maye start at all during his rookie year. With the way he played during the preseason, he seems ready to play.
It will be interesting to keep an eye on the Patriots’ quarterback situation moving forward. With this being stated by Howe, it makes things seem likely for Maye to be on the field as the starter before the end of the season.