The Patriots will field their regular players again in Sunday’s final game of the season against the Commanders, head coach Jerod Mayo told reporters in his press conference on Friday.
Among the quarterbacks, Drake Maye, who was selected as the number 3 overall pick, is likely to be the second.
“Jacoby (Brissett) will start the game,” Mayo said. “Drake will play, too. Joe (Milton II) will play, too. Now you can sleep. Bailey (Zappe) will play. We have some players who are dealing with little issues and probably won’t play and are getting ready for the regular season – some of our proven players.”
Although it appears that Brissett will remain New England’s starting quarterback once the regular season begins, Mayo pointed out one area on Friday where the rookie has made progress.
“If you remember how he used to intercept and always be so complacent,” Mayo said. “I would say now that we’re out of camp, he’s gotten a lot better at pulling the nose of the plane up when it looks like it’s going to crash. I think that’s an important trait.”
The other two things Mayo looks for in a QB are mental toughness and competitiveness.
“I can’t sit here and tell you, unless it’s like a Philip Rivers release where I’m like, ‘Man, that release is kind of weird.’ I don’t get into the technical details,” Mayo said. “For me, evaluating a quarterback or any player, but especially the quarterback, is that they have to be mentally tough and they have to be able to bounce back from whatever adversity they’re bound to face.”
So far this preseason, Brissett has completed 3 of 10 passes for 17 yards with one interception. Maye has completed 8 of 14 passes for 66 yards.
