Jerod Mayo confused New England Patriots fans when he admitted that Drake Mayo “outperformed” Jacoby Brissett in the preseason, but it’s a comment that made perfect sense for a franchise legend.
Confusion among fans grew when Mayo added that Maye was the second quarterback behind Brissett, who had said on WEEI on Tuesday that he felt like he was the starter.
Bill Belichick has highlighted how inflated preseason performances can be, and James White has pointed to team dynamics when evaluating.
“Mayo said in his press conference that Drake Maye is better than Jacoby Brissett in a head-to-head competition, but he’s still the second-best quarterback on the roster,” White said on the “Money Down” podcast. “People were like, ‘That doesn’t make sense.’ It makes perfect sense. When there’s a competition, the best player can’t win the competition. That’s just the nature of the sport. It doesn’t matter how talented you are, how good you are. Whoever shows up in that competition could go out there and win it.
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“I think he’s just saying Jacoby is the best guy for our team right now. Can that change? Yes, of course. At some point that can happen. If it’s Week 2, Week 3, Week 4 and he just looks so good at practice tearing the defense to shreds and the offense isn’t really doing much, why not? Send the guy out there and see if he can make a difference.”
The debate over whether or not Maye should be in the starting lineup is unlikely to die down until Mayo comes out with a clear reason, but fans may not be happy with that after seeing the newcomer shine in games.
