Heading into the opener against Cincinnati to kick off the 2024 Patriots schedule for the regular season, it sounds like Jacoby Brissett will likely be the one under center against Joe Burrow’s Bengals.
In fact, Mayo essentially said on Tuesday that it’s Brissett’s job to lose.
“Coming out of the spring, I don’t think there’s any doubt. Jacoby [Brissett] is the starting quarterback at this point in time,” said Mayo. “We can look at these other quarterbacks on the roster. At the same time, it’s about competition. And so when we get out on the field this summer with the pads on, we’ll see how it all plays out. But coming out of the spring, I think it’s clear that Jacoby is the most pro-ready guy we have and played a lot of football.”
For Brissett, it feels like he knew coming in what the plan would be. He was expected to both start and be the veteran leader among a mostly young group as the Patriots revamped their offense, and it’s a role he’s embraced.
He’s said and done the right things all spring, with Brissett also joining Drake Maye in various throwing sessions that popped up on social media ahead of the club reporting this week to Gillette Stadium.
While it’s great that he’s gotten the endorsement from Mayo, Brissett explained on Tuesday that as much as he appreciates it, he’s approaching this upcoming month the same way he always has.
He’s ready to prove he’ll be the Week 1 starter, and that’s how he plans on conducting himself when the team hits the field beginning on Wednesday.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously, that’s the ultimate goal,” said Brissett when asked about Mayo’s comments of him being the number one quarterback. “And obviously, don’t take things like that lightly. But I understand this league, and I understand how every day is a challenge, every day is a competition, and I look forward to that, and I feed off that, and looking to go out there and prove it every day.”
One benefit that Brissett certainly has is his experience playing under new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, with the two having spent time together during their respective tenures in Cleveland. That’s made the transition here a little easier, with the veteran having a pretty good comfort level with the offense.
That’s a key area that also makes him someone his young teammates will look to as they continue growing in the offense, and it’s a role he’s looking forward to.
“I think that comes with the position. It’s being able to take command of the offense in all of the details, not only for myself, but for the receivers, the running back tight ends, and so forth,” said Brissett. “I think that’s part of the job is demanding that not only from yourself, but from the other guys. I think being the older of the group that guys are going to look to me for that. It’s another goal of mine for this training camp and trying to… Obviously, I’ve been in this offense for a year before, so just bringing guys along and helping teach and so forth.”
One comment that stood out from Mayo this morning was the fact he left the door open for Maye to potentially unseat Brissett, but he also added the caveat that it would certainly take quite a performance for that to happen.
The overall sentiment by many is that starting Brissett in Week 1 would make more sense, as it would give the team more time to get a feel for whether or not they’ve also got an offensive line unit that’s adept enough at protecting the quarterback.
Maye is obviously the future of their franchise, and Brissett is here in New England on a one-year deal. As a result, it’s clear that beyond this season, the likelihood is that Maye will be under center at some point, with the belief that he’ll be next season’s opening day starter in 2025.
For now, Brissett’s used to dealing with opposing NFL caliber defensive players, and after seeing what happened to former Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, it’s definitely too risky to put Maye out there and see the rookie take an unnecessary beating.
Still, Mayo left that possibility open for the rookie to emerge, albeit, he said the same held true for both fellow rookie Joe Milton and third-year quarterback, Bailey Zappe.
“Look, and this goes to any position, if he comes out here and he lights it up, and once again, it goes back to the quality of reps, it could absolutely happen,” said Mayo on the possibility of Maye breaking through to catapult himself into a starting role next month. “I sit here and tell you, coming out of the spring, Jacoby looks like the starting quarterback. Now, with that being said, he’ll have competition. Let’s not forget about even Joe Milton. Let’s not forget about [Bailey] Zappe. All those guys will have opportunities to go out there and be the starting quarterback in week one.”
Another notable thing from this morning is that it’s clear there’s been an internal discussion about the benefit of sitting behind a player, with both Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love likely being names that came to mind in a reference to how Green Bay handled its own QB situation. Mayo sort of alluded to that on Tuesday, talking about how guys sat in that system before they eventually became starters.
That likely means that Maye emerging is probably a longshot, regardless of how well this next month goes.
“I mean, you’ve seen that work in the past, right?” said Mayo when asked about keeping young QBs ‘in a protective bubble.’ “You look at other quarterbacks, the Green Bay quarterbacks, where they had a lot of time to… I don’t know if I was allowed to say his name, but I got it. But you look at those situations, and they were able to sit back. There are also been situations where a guy comes right in right now and he balls out. We’ll see what happens when we get out here on the field.”
For now, Brissett’s ready to get started, and it sounds like he’s energized and looking forward to the opportunity that’s ahead of him as the Patriots start preparing for what should certainly be an interesting campaign.
“Everybody’s ready to go,” said Brissett on the vibe heading into this week. “Catching up with a lot of the guys that you obviously don’t talk to as much during the offseason.”
“But everybody was excited to be back and ready to get this thing on the road.”
Where that road leads is obviously the big question we’ll all be watching when it all gets underway starting tomorrow morning.
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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.
It’s low % that a rookie out of college does well starting year one. And it’s also a risk of ruining the QB. Yea you can get a quote from Peyton Manning saying it was better for him to play week 1/year 1, but he’s an exception to the majority. Clearly, many so called draft experts (media) said Maye likely is not in the Manning bucket and will need time. So any push and churn by NBC Boston and other to debate and argue Maye should start (that will go on all summer) is nothing more than fanning the flames… Read more »