As the Chargers deal with their own issues, it looks like they added another task to Bill Belichick’s “to-do” list with three games left to go heading into the final three games of this 2023 Patriots season.
According to multiple reports, Los Angeles is signing quarterback Will Grier off of New England’s practice squad, adding depth to a group that is in tough shape after losing Justin Herbert for the remainder of the season.
Herbert suffered a broken index finger a week ago during Los Angeles’ loss to Denver, which knocked him out of action and left the Chargers in tough shape heading into these final weeks.
Easton Stick replaced him, and also started Thursday night’s game in Las Vegas. Stick finished that game 23-of-32 for 257-yards along with three touchdowns and an interception, but it came during a historic 63-21 loss that saw now-former head coach Brandon Staley get fired the next day.
Grier’s addition adds some additional depth behind Stick, with the Chargers currently only having rookie Max Duggan on their roster. However, it now leaves the Patriots thin on their own QB depth chart, as last week’s departure of Malik Cunningham leaves them with just starter Bailey Zappe and former starter Mac Jones as his back-up with three games left to play.
Grier was originally signed by the Patriots off of Cincinnati’s practice squad earlier this season, with the hope that he might potentially work his way into the back up role. Instead, he never seemed to make much progress, with Zappe beating him out and holding down that spot even while Jones struggled during the early portion of the season.
Since then, it’s been Zappe’s job to lose, and the former Western Kentucky standout fought through some of his own early struggles during the preseason. Zappe actually found himself waived at the end of training camp, before ultimately making the decision to return to the team’s practice squad despite reportedly receiving multiple offers from other teams.
He’s since come in several times in relief of Jones, who was benched for performance reasons. Jones’ poor performance during the club’s loss to the Giants was the final straw, as it ended up seeing Zappe end up back in the starting line-up. The second-year quarterback has since started each of the last three contests.
While New England’s offense has been better under Zappe, the end result has still seen the Patriots go 1-2 over that span, including Sunday’s frustrating loss to the Chiefs. Zappe put together a first half where he completed 17-of-19 for 141 yards and a touchdown, but an interception on their first play of the second-half derailed what had been a pretty good effort to that point by the offense.
The Patriots were never able to recover and went on to lose 27-17 to fall to 3-11 on the season.
New England is currently preparing for a trip to Denver for a Christmas Eve game against the Broncos Sunday night at 8:15pm ET.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
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