By Chris Ryan
On August 15th following the Patriots preseason match-up against the Eagles Jerod Mayo hinted that a competition was underway to determine who the starting quarterback would be this season.
This was news to me, as my understanding was that Jacoby Brissett was the starting quarterback, when the curtain came up on the regular season in Cincinnati, and rookie Drake Mayo would be his apprentice.
I followed up with Mayo the next day to see if he misspoke or wanted to walk back the statement. Nope. He doubled down. Game on. Brissett v Maye for QB1.
A competition was underway in practice and in the final preseason game to determine the starter, according to Mayo.
This seemed odd.
My feeling was that this was supposed to motivate Brissett to play more like a starting quarterback. He was lackluster in the joint practice with the Eagles, and capped that off with a really bad end zone pick in the preseason game.
The problem here is that this seemed to be a "competition" with a preordained result. Brissett was going to be the guy. Meanwhile Maye outplayed him in another week of practice and had a solid showing in Washington despite huge problems with the o-line.
Now what?
On Monday morning Mayo declared that Maye had won the competition, but started to introduce caveats about experience when it came to who would be the starter.
This made it clear to me that his choice would be Brissett and he confirmed that with players in a m, meeting early Wednesday morning.
Drake Maye is the Patriots franchise quarterback and looking at things thru that lens, I'm unsure what the point was of this exercise for his overall development.
"There's two ways to look at: Obviously, I want to play, you know, the competitive edge in me. But, at the same time, understanding the situation just coming in here, Jacoby's been in the offense and gotten the reps with the (starters) all camp," said Maye.
Mayo has also made it clear that Brissett's hold on the starters spot is tenuous. I think they'll give it a couple games and see where things are at.
Maye has looked good in preseason action, but the defensive schemes he went up against were simplistic and almost all of the opposition won't be playing in the NFL next weekend. Couple that with some problematic pass protection from the offensive line, and the point can certainly be made that the current situation isn't one where he's been set up to succeed in week one.
Taking some time to learn NFL defenses, maybe get some relief work in the first few weeks, that seems to be best for Maye's development, but the charade about him being the starter, I don't see why that was necessary.
The Press Pass column drops Friday mornings and the show airs on iHeart NH Saturday and Sunday at 11a. Chris also covers the Patriots for WBZ-Boston's News Radio and host's New Hampshire Today weekdays from 6-9a on iHeart NH.