Jacoby Brissett will start at quarterback for the Patriots, Jerod Mayo announces
The Patriots have picked a starting quarterback.
Jacoby Brissett will begin the season as the Patriots’ starting quarterback, coach Jerod Mayo told reporters during a news conference at Gillette Stadium on Thursday morning.
Rookie quarterback Drake Maye challenged Brissett for the job, to the point where Mayo said last week that Maye had outplayed Brissett.
But, the Patriots have a plan for Maye’s development and remain steadfast in their desire to stick to it.
“As an organization, we are 100 percent behind Jacoby, there is no ‘you’ve got a guy right here, you’ve got a guy right there’,” Mayo said. “We’re 100 percent behind Jacoby. I had an opportunity to talk to Drake, I had an opportunity to talk to Jacoby separately and also together and I feel like we’re all on the same page from an organizational perspective.”
The Patriots will go with the experienced veteran, who is entering his ninth season in the league. Brissett has familiarity both with the Patriots’ organization having been drafted by New England in 2016, and with Alex Van Pelt’s West coast offense which he played in during the 2022 season with Cleveland.
“There were a lot of factors that led to this choice,” Mayo said. “I think the hard part is thinking of the short term and the long term at the same time. As an organization, we feel like Jacoby gives us the best chance to win right now.”
Brissett completed 64 percent of his passes and threw 12 touchdowns against six interceptions during the 2022 season. Brissett played in three games with the Commanders last season, going 18-for-23 for 224 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.
The 31-year-old veteran is 18-30 as an NFL starter with a 61.3 career completion percentage and 51 career touchdowns against 23 interceptions.
Mayo was asked whether Mayo will be quarterback for the entire season. He had said previously that what’s best for the team right now might not be what’s best for down the line, but seemed to strike a different tune on Thursday.
“I don’t want to go into hypotheticals, we can’t go into the season saying well he’s going to go X amount of weeks,” Mayo said. As long as Jacoby is going out there and performing the way that we all have confidence in him doing, he’ll be our quarterback this season.”
The Patriots valued Brissett’s experience from the start, naming him the starter heading into training camp and sticking with him throughout the summer as the quarterback taking the majority of the reps with the starter.
Though Maye’s preseason stats were decisively better, Brissett started every preseason game.
With Week 1 of the regular-season approaching, the Patriots are moving forward with the familiar choice under center as they continue to develop the talented rookie.
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