Patriots QB Jacoby Brissett Defends Beleaguered Teammate: ‘Not a Slouch’.
By just about all accounts, the upcoming 2024 training camp appears to be an exercise in futility for Patriots veteran Bailey Zappe, the presumed odd man out of the New England quarterback carousel. The thinking is simple. The Patriots just signed Jacoby Brissett as a free agent, so his spot is safe. They used the No. 3 pick in the draft on the ever-so-safe Drake Maye. And they took a sixth-round flier on strong-armed Joe Milton.
That’s three quarterbacks, and there is no room for four. Even with Zappe having cobbled together eight starts in the past two seasons with the Patriots, it appears as though the team is ready to move on from him. Mac Jones has already been moved. It’s perhaps a bit strange that Zappe has not.
But don’t tell that to Brissett, the nine-year NFL veteran who began his career as a Patriot in 2016, before playing for four other franchises, then re-signing with New England in March. Brissett expects Zappe to keep himself in the mix in training camp—not just for a roster spot but for the QB1 role.
Patriots QB Room: ‘Everybody Is Talking’
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Brissett acknowledged that the presumption is that the Patriots have a quarterback competition underway between himself and Maye. But, he said, that is not the mindset of those in the quarterback room.
Brissett told the gathered reporters: “That’s the thing, everybody in the (quarterback) room is talking. Me, Drake, and Joe and you got a guy that has started in the NFL and won games. (Zappe) is not a slouch. The good thing about our room is, honestly everybody wants to be the guy and everybody’s competing to be the guy. And that’s what you want …”
The consensus is that Brissett is the early leader as the Patriots lunge toward the start of training camp. This week, ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler declared Brissett the “favorite” to be the Week 1 starter, saying on SportsCenter:
“I talked to a source with the team who said: ‘Look, we’re not going to hold Drake Maye back when he’s ready to play, but we do recognize that he needs some work.’ That this is somebody who needs to get acclimated to the pro game, that could take some time.
