Jacoby Brissett appears likely to lose his spot as the Patriots’ starting quarterback.
New England offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt called Brissett the franchise’s QB1, rather than No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye, during the team’s minicamp on Tuesday. According to The Athletic.
“Jacoby is our starter again,” Van Pelt told the outlet. “He’s played great for us in the spring. And Drake’s going to be there as well. Until that changes, we’re going to stick with the guys we have.”
Van Pelt said the Patriots plan to slowly develop Maye, a 21-year-old from North Carolina.
“I look at this as a marathon, not a sprint. You can’t just run a marathon. You have to train for a marathon. It’s the same with a quarterback,” Van Pelt said of Maye’s development. From ESPN“There’s a process. We follow that process. We trust the process. You can’t just throw people in there without the proper training and expect them to be successful.
“We are moving in the right direction.”
Maye worked behind Brissett and Bailey Zappe in workouts earlier this spring and then worked out as the second point guard on Tuesday.
“Me, Jacoby and Bailey, we’re battling it out,” May said Tuesday. “Every day we’re mixing it up of who’s going to take who. It’s not necessarily, ‘Hey, you’re No. 1, you’re No. 2,’ Jacoby’s going to be No. 1 and then we’ll just see how it goes from there,” May said. “Obviously it’s just about what I do when I’m out there.”
Brissett, an eight-year veteran, will begin his second tenure in Foxboro after spending the 2023 season with the Commanders.
During a media availability on Tuesday, Van Pelt noted that Brissett “does a great job controlling the offense.”
The Patriots will begin a new era under Jerrod Mayo in 2024 after parting ways with longtime head coach Bill Belichick, who led the team for 24 seasons and six Super Bowl victories, and trading 2021 first-round draft pick Mac Jones to the Jaguars in exchange for a sixth-round pick.
New England finished last season in the AFC East with a 4-13 record, their worst season in more than 30 years.
