Dozens of people have explained the situation to you. Yet you persist in the belief that Mallet's aspiration is to be a backup. He wants to compete for a starter position, and he will. $3m is backup money now. He'll get more than $3m, you watch.
I don't want to spoil the surprise for you - but go ahead and research how much backup QBs with no starting experience in the NFL make
The only ones who make that much are veterans QBs (and only the top 5 veteran backup QBs at that - and even THEY are looking at being cut or restructured if the young promising QB looks good) looked to for depth/insurance by teams with unproven young developmental QBs who need them if their young QBs don't work out
Then tell us how many QBs with ZERO NFL starts "easily" get offers of $3 million a year
I've always found Patriots fans to be among the most savvy on the planet, yet when it comes to perceptions of backup QBs, the one thing you can always count upon here is that most Patriots fans will swear our backup QB is among the most under-rated QB in the league
Whether it was Scott Zolak, Ray Lucas, Michael Bishop, Rohan Davey, Matt Gutierrez Kevin O'Connell, Bryan Hoyer or Mallet, these were and always have been guys local fans felt just needed a chance to show they could be starters in the NFL - and in every case they were more or less wrong
Ironically you had few people saying that about Brady (who even after rising from #4 to #2 watched as Bledsoe was signed by Belichick to a 10 year $100 million contract) and to a lesser degree Cassel, who looked HORRIBLE on the pre-season field but then helped a 16-0 team go 11-5 as a starter the following season
But in all other cases these guys were all right on the cusp of NFL stardom as far as most fans were concerned - but even a guy who still has potential like Hoyer was cut by the Patriots when the newly drafted #2 displaced him, with no trading partners to be found (and - spoiler alert - Hoyer didn't sign for "easily at least $3 million a season")
I'd love to see them get two 1st round draft choices for Mallet - and I'd be happy for Mallet if he became the only $3 million backup QB without an NFL start under his belt - but that's just not going to happen, because most NFL GMs (including Belichick) are a better judge of talent than fans