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NFL Insider Says Drake Maye Could Start For Patriots ‘Pretty Soon’

Posted on by angelo
NFL Insider Says Drake Maye Could Start For Patriots ‘Pretty Soon’

Patriots

“Whether it’s next week, whether it’s the week after, whether it’s mid-season, it’s clearly happening.”

NFL Insider Says Drake Maye Could Start For Patriots ‘Pretty Soon’

Drake Maye made his NFL regular season debut against the Jets in the Patriots’ crushing loss on Thursday. AP Photo/Adam Hunger

  • Robert Kraft says he knew in 2019 that Jerod Mayo would be the Patriots’ next coach

  • Jacoby Brissett to remain Patriots’ starting quarterback after Drake Maye’s debut

Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo bluntly told reporters Friday that Jacoby Brissett is New England’s starting quarterback.

Mayo doubled down, though he said “I don’t know” when asked if he would make a quarterback change hours earlier Thursday night after the Patriots’ crushing loss to the Jets in prime time.

Newcomer Drake Maye made his debut in the final minutes of New England’s second straight loss, sparking questions about who will be its QB1 going forward.

Combined with what happened on the field Thursday and the fact that Maye will continue to receive 30 percent of the starting reps in practice, as Mayo confirmed after the game, rumors of Maye claiming the starting job are already circulating.

NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport said on NFL Network’s “The Insiders” that it was only a matter of time before the 22-year-old claimed the role from Brissett.

“What the Patriots have done, what they’ve really valued and prioritized over the last couple months, is they’ve tried to prepare Drake Maye to get on the field, to succeed,” he said Friday. “They want to make sure he’s in a position to thrive, right? … They put him in action against the New York Jets to try to give him a little taste.”

“It’s all been about making sure the future is as safe as possible. Is this the moment they’re going to say, ‘Okay, we’re going to hand everything over to Drake Maye’? It doesn’t seem like it, just based on the comments from Alex Van Pelt and Jerod Mayo, but what’s very clear here is that it’s going to happen.”

Rapoport referred to Mayo and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt’s assertion that Brissett is New England’s starter until further notice. Van Pelt echoed Mayo’s assertion when answering reporters’ questions Friday.

However, both coaches seem to believe Maye has the potential to be named the Patriots’ starting quarterback at some point this season.

“Jacoby is our quarterback until I say he’s not the quarterback anymore,” Mayo said.

“I think Jacoby is our starter, like coach (Mayo) said. Until that changes, we have to do everything we can to get the starter ready to win a game on Sunday,” Van Pelt said.

There is no specific timetable for Maye’s takeover. However, Rapoport added that the time for the third overall pick is approaching and could come soon.

“Whether it’s next week, the week after, or midseason, it’s clear that it’s going to happen. And the Patriots, rather than putting him on the field, have really tried to build his confidence,” he said. “You just hope, at the end of it all, that it’s going to be worth it. Nobody’s going to care that he came in and got hit a couple times against the Jets, but was it helpful to his development? The Patriots are obviously hoping so, and it’s pretty clear that we’re going to see Drake Maye at some point fairly soon.”