After missing most of the Patriots’ first preseason game against the Panthers a few weeks ago, Drake Maye spent the entire second and part of the third quarter in the game and capped off his performance with a rushing touchdown.
While his stats may not seem as impressive as some of his rookie counterparts around the league, Maye showed the composure of a veteran starter and his long throws when under center. He looked every bit like the player the Patriots drafted to take over the franchise after the Mac Jones failure, which was significant after what most described as a disappointing summer training camp.
He now has one last chance to show what he can do before the focus shifts to the regular season and the new regime ultimately makes the decision as to which quarterback will be the team’s starter in Week 1.
Throughout the offseason, Jerod Mayo and Alex Van Pelt have insisted that Brissett be the starter, which was to be expected given his experience and the state of the offense, but that has changed slightly in recent weeks after Maye’s performance improved at practice and last week against the Eagles.
While it makes the most sense for the starter to stay, especially with the offensive line looking problematic, Brissett could get the rookie job, as most fans believe he gives the Patriots the best chance to win this season.
But we are one game away from that news, as the Commanders are the last team on the 2024 offseason schedule.
According to Mayo, every quarterback currently on the roster will see time on the field in Sunday’s game. Brissett will be the first to start, followed by Maye, Bailey Zappe and Joe Milton III.
How long each of them will play and who they will play with will only become clear when the game begins, but then Maye could finally get the chance to work with parts of the starting offense instead of the second team.
This would be the best way to determine if the rookie is ready for Week 1. However, in a conversation with reporters last week, Mayo did not reveal how he plans to divide up the reps.
