Drake Maye will begin his rookie season with the New England Patriots on the bench, but head coach Jerod Mayo has cleared up one bit of confusion about the quarterback’s role.
Jacoby Brissett, who was named New England’s starting quarterback, suffered a shoulder injury during the team’s preseason finale. After that game, Mayo was asked if Maye would be the Patriots’ Week 1 starting quarterback if Brissett were unavailable. At that point, Mayo was not ready to commit to Maye as the No. 2 quarterback.
“I would like to sit here and say 100% he’s our second-best quarterback on our roster right now. …I’m not sure until I watch the film,” Mayo said at the time.
That, of course, was surprising given that Brissett and Maye were supposedly in competition for the starting job all offseason. But on Monday, Mayo made it clear that Maye is the next man up.
“When we talk about developing a guy like Drake Maye, that is a continuous process,” Mayo said. “If Jacoby was to get injured in the first week, 1000% Drake would be the next guy in as the No. 2 quarterback on our roster.”
