What Patriots rivals are reportedly saying about team’s QB decision

After weeks of speculation, Jerod Mayo announced last week that veteran QB Jacoby Brissett will be the Patriots’ starter this season — with rookie Drake Maye serving as the team’s backup for the time being.

While Maye’s encouraging play during preseason action did narrow the gap between him and Brissett, Mayo’s announcement didn’t necessarily come as much of a surprise — especially given the lack of talent across the rest of New England’s depth chart.

That same sentiment regarding Mayo’s decision to sit Maye in favor of Brissett seems to be shared by the rest of the NFL, according to The Athletic’s Jeff Howe. 

“There’s curiosity among rival teams with the way head coach Jerod Mayo publicly handled the quarterback battle between Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye,” Howe wrote on Monday about the Patriots’ roster choices.  “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.”

Even though Brissett is expected to get the nod to start off the season, Howe noted that Maye “will almost certainly take over as the starter at some point this season,” especially if New England’s patchwork offensive line manages to find some semblance of cohesion as the year carries on. 

Brissett is set to get the nod for Week 1 against the Bengals on Sept. 8, but Mayo stressed on Monday that New England does have full confidence in Maye to step in and conduct the Patriots’ offense in case Brissett is injured — a scenario that Mayo dodged when asked about it after the team’s final preseason game against the Commanders on Aug. 25. 

“When we talk about developing a guy like Drake, that is a continuous process,” Mayo said of Maye. “If Jacoby was to get injured in the first week, 1,000%, Drake would be the next guy as the No. 2 quarterback on our roster.”

While Mayo and his staff have moved on to game-planning for the team’s season opener against the Bengals, the Patriots head coach added that he has no regrets over how the team conducted its quarterback competition this preseason — with Brissett ultimately getting the nod even though Mayo admitted that Maye “outplayed” the veteran signal-caller. 

“I will say, I think I was explicit about it in speaking to you guys how I thought about the process,” Mayo said. “There was a lot of push: ‘You’ve got to name a quarterback; you’ve got to name a quarterback.’ But I did think it was important to talk to the team about the decision.

“I thought it was important to talk to those two quarterbacks individually and then both combined. Before I came out here and told you guys, I just thought that was the right thing to do for the New England Patriots.”