We break down the quarterback position in today’s edition:<\/p>\n
Mac Jones <\/strong>\u2013 Entering his 2nd<\/sup> year, Jones has lost his Offensive Coordinator, Josh McDaniel.\u00a0 The Patriots and Bill Belichick refuse to name a play-caller.\u00a0 They have former NFL Head Coaches Joe Judge and Matt Patricia who could potentially call the plays.\u00a0 Judge (QB Coach) and Patricia (O-line) have experience in coaching, but not on Offense.\u00a0 A long-shot play-caller could be Nick Caley (TE coach).\u00a0 I have another theory.\u00a0 What if the Patriots are going to allow Jones to call his own plays?\u00a0\u00a0 It’s absurd to let a 2nd-year player make his own calls, but who knows the playbook better than Jones.\u00a0 Mac is obsessive with preparation.\u00a0 Who expected Jones to play as well as he did in his rookie year?\u00a0 Jones has come to OTAs in great shape.\u00a0 Gone is his pot belly per Kendrick Bourne.\u00a0 He was in the building during the off season, working with Moses Cabrera and the team Nutritionist Ted Harper.\u00a0 Jones stated in his OTA interview on Monday \u201cFor me, cleaning up my diet \u2014 I\u2019ve probably learned more this offseason than I ever have about my diet, sleep, nutrition, wellness, all that stuff.\u201d\u00a0 He also went on to explain that he has been working with QB guru Tom House.\u00a0 I expect big things from Jones this season.\u00a0 I am not concerned with who is making the play calls.\u00a0 I just hope that every game is not a shootout.\u00a0 The Defense scares the hell out of me.<\/p>\n Brian Hoyer \u2013 Tremendous backup quarterback and mentor to Mac Jones and now Bailey Zappe.\u00a0 Hoyer will become a coach with the Patriots once his playing days are done.\u00a0 The only question is how many QBs make the final 53-man roster.\u00a0 In the recent past, it has been only two.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think Bill Belichick wants to go into the season with a rookie QB as a backup.<\/p>\n Bailey Zappe <\/strong>\u2013 The rookie QB from Western Kentucky broke the single-season TD record of 62 with 64 TDs last season.\u00a0 \u00a0According to Kevin Tame of Fan Nation\u2019s Patriots Country, one big backer of Zappe is former NFL GM, Randy Mueller.\u00a0 He began his front-office career in 1983 as an assistant in pro personnel with the Seattle Seahawks and served in the front offices of several NFL teams. Over the course of 35 years, he also spent time with the New Orleans Saints in 2000, Miami Dolphins in 2005, and the San Diego\/Los Angeles Chargers in 2008.\u00a0 He was named NFL Executive of the Year in 2000 while with the Saints. Mueller liked Zappe before the draft, via this ringing endorsement in early April:<\/p>\n \u201cI think if he was two inches taller he might be vying for the first quarterback being considered in this draft,” he said. “He is accurate. He is comfortable in the pocket. He has plenty of arm strength to go with anticipation and, for my money, can make all the NFL throws needed to be successful. I see similarities with other 6-foot-tall quarterbacks who have been successful in the last decade in the NFL.\u201d\u00a0 Zappe has been compared to Drew Brees and Russell Wilson.\u00a0 “The fact he has the vision and anticipation from the pocket. … he trends more in that line just because of that anticipatory skillset.”<\/p>\n Here are Zappe’s numbers in college:<\/p>\n As you can see, Bailey took advantage of the liberal Transfer protocol and the COVID year exemption by transferring from Houston Baptist to Western Kentucky.\u00a0 He followed his Offensive Coordinator Zach Kittley from Houston Baptist to Western Kentucky to play for Head Coach Tyson Helton.\u00a0 Helton was responsible for Sam Darnold\u2019s development at USC, as he served as QB coach and Passing Game coordinator.\u00a0 He also developed Mike White at Western Kentucky. \u00a0That\u2019s now three drafted NFL QBs.\u00a0 Kittley parlayed Zappe\u2019s great success (62 TDs, 5967 yards, and 69% completion percentage) into a new Offensive Coordinator position at Texas Tech in 2022.\u00a0 Kittley previously worked his way up from Graduate Assistant to full-time coach at Texas Tech under Kliff Kingsbury from 2013- 2017.\u00a0 He assisted in the development of Pat Mahomes.\u00a0 You can see the similarities of these QBs to Zappe and the coaches that helped develop them.<\/p>\n It’s not unusual for Belichick to draft a Quarterback.\u00a0 Here is a list of QBs that Belichick has drafted:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n At the very least, if Zappe works out, they have a solid backup they have under control for 4 years.\u00a0\u00a0 They could then trade Zappe as they have done with Jacoby Bissett and Matt Cassel.\u00a0 I find it interesting that Belichick drafted Kliff Kingsbury (Arizona Cardinals Head Coach), Kevin O\u2019Connell (Head Coach Minnesota Vikings), and Zac Robinson (passing game coordinator for the LA Rams).\u00a0 All three are great offensive minds.<\/p>\n The training camp roster is void of a 4th<\/sup> QB.\u00a0 I think they need another live arm on the roster as the drain on the top three would be tremendous.\u00a0 They have the room since they are still at 85 players on the roster.\u00a0 Former Practice Squad QB Garrett Gilbert was released by the Las Vegas Raiders.\u00a0 However, loyalty is a big thing with the Patriots, and signing off the Patriot Practice Squad with another team may be held against Gilbert.\u00a0 When they get to the dog days of practice the Patriots will want to give the QBs a day off.\u00a0 Having that developmental type or veteran backup is a must. \u00a0Colin Kaepernick isn\u2019t doing anything.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if he can play anymore but he sure would make it interesting, especially for the media.<\/p>\n Who is not at OTAs? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n N\u2019Keal Harry and Isaiah Wynn are notable absences.\u00a0 Add to the list Tent Brown.\u00a0 None of this is good news.\u00a0 Wynn has missed half the games played in the last 4 years.\u00a0 He is playing on his 5th-year\u00a0option for over $10M.\u00a0 He is the 4th<\/sup> highest-paid Patriots player this year.\u00a0 As far as Left Tackles in the league he is the 17th<\/sup> highest paid.\u00a0 The consensus is that Wynn id on the trading block to free up more cap space.\u00a0 We still haven\u2019t signed all the draft picks because they don\u2019t have the cap space.\u00a0 Brown had practiced at Left Tackle during the 1st<\/sup> OTA and Justin Herron moved to RT.\u00a0 The last two years, Brown has also had injury issues and has only played half the games.\u00a0 Yodny Cajuste worked as Left Tackle in Brown\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the very least, if Zappe works out, the New England Patriots have a solid backup they have under control for 4 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":41622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[23025,22991,661,22264],"class_list":["post-41754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-news","tag-2022-patriots-otas","tag-bailey-zappe","tag-brian-hoyer","tag-mac-jones"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n
\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n Passing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n SEASON<\/strong><\/td>\n TEAM<\/strong><\/td>\n GP<\/strong><\/td>\n CMP<\/strong><\/td>\n ATT<\/strong><\/td>\n CMP%<\/strong><\/td>\n YDS<\/strong><\/td>\n Y\/A<\/strong><\/td>\n TD<\/strong><\/td>\n INT<\/strong><\/td>\n QB RT<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2017<\/td>\n HOUBAP<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n 21<\/td>\n 34<\/td>\n 62%<\/td>\n 199<\/td>\n 5.9<\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n 77.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2018<\/td>\n HOUBAP<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n 27<\/td>\n 49<\/td>\n 55%<\/td>\n 226<\/td>\n 4.6<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n 72.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2019<\/td>\n HOUBAP<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n 27<\/td>\n 37<\/td>\n 73%<\/td>\n 300<\/td>\n 8.1<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n 114.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2020<\/td>\n HOUBAP<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n 106<\/td>\n 169<\/td>\n 63%<\/td>\n 1453<\/td>\n 8.6<\/td>\n 12<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n 111.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2021<\/td>\n WKENT<\/td>\n 14<\/td>\n 475<\/td>\n 686<\/td>\n 69%<\/td>\n 5967<\/td>\n 8.7<\/td>\n 62<\/td>\n 11<\/td>\n 119.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n AVG (2017-2021)<\/strong><\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n 131.2<\/td>\n 195<\/td>\n 67%<\/td>\n 1629<\/td>\n 8.4<\/td>\n 15.6<\/td>\n 2.6<\/td>\n 99.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n TOTAL<\/strong><\/td>\n 20<\/td>\n 656<\/td>\n 975<\/td>\n –<\/td>\n 8145<\/td>\n –<\/td>\n 78<\/td>\n 13<\/td>\n –<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n \n