The New England Patriots are going with an old veteran over their prized pupil as starting quarterback. More specifically, that would be veteran Jacoby Brissett, a forever-steady journeyman, over Drake Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
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Maye made a late push to become the Day One starter, but Patriots coach Jerod Mayo decided to play it safe.
"We have decided, or I have decided, that Jacoby Brissett will be our starting quarterback this season," Mayo said Thursday. "In saying that, as an organization, we are 100% behind Jacoby. There is no 'You got a guy right here, you got a guy right there.' We're 100% behind Jacoby."
Per Mike Reiss of ESPN:
"Brissett spent all spring and training camp as the starter, but the dynamic of the competition shifted over the past two weeks. Mayo previously said that once Maye became less deferential, the gap between the quarterbacks closed to the point where Maye was playing better than Brissett in that time frame.
"At the same time, Brissett's experience in the team's system, along with the totality of his work going back to the spring, was weighed in the decision-making process."
Mayo didn't really want to elaborate on when Maye might start.
"I don't want to get into hypotheticals. We can't go into the season saying, 'He's going to go "x" amount of weeks.' As long as Jacoby is going out there performing the way we all have confidence in him doing, he'll be our quarterback this season."
This is not an uncommon practice. Even Kansas Chiefs great Patrick Mahomes sat his first season (behind Alex Smith). Maye will get the same opportunity to watch and learn.
The Patriots open the season with a road game against te Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, Sept. 8.
