The Patriots’ starting quarterback job appears to be Jacoby Brissett’s to lose.
New England’s offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt called Brissett — not No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye — as the franchise’s QB1 during the team’s minicamp on Tuesday, according to The Athletic.
“Jacoby, again, is our starter,” Van Pelt said, per the outlet. “He’s playing excellent football for us in the spring. And Drake is coming on. Until that changes, we’re going to stick with what we’ve got.”
The Patriots are going to take it slow with Maye, the 21-year-old North Carolina product, Van Pelt said.
“I think of it as a marathon over a sprint. You just don’t go out and run a marathon. You have to train properly for a marathon. It’s the same with a quarterback,” Van Pelt said of Maye’s development, per ESPN. “There’s a process. We follow that process. We trust that process. You can’t just stick a guy out there and expect him to be successful without the proper training.
“We’re making moves in the right direction.”
Maye took reps as the No. 2 signal-caller on Tuesday after taking reps behind Brissett and Bailey Zappe during workouts earlier this spring.
“Me and Jacoby and Bailey, we’re battling,” Maye said on Tuesday. “Mixing up who goes with who each day. It’s not necessarily ‘Hey, you’re going first, you’re going second.’ Jacoby is getting first and from there we’re just playing it by ear,” Maye said. “Obviously, it matters how you do when you’re in there.”
An eight-year veteran, Brissett is entering his second stint in Foxborough after spending the 2023 season with the Commanders.
Van Pelt noted that Brissett has “great command of the offense” during his media availability on Tuesday.
The Patriots are entering a new era in 2024 under Jerod Mayo after parting ways with longtime head coach Bill Belichick, who led the team for 24 seasons and to six Super Bowl wins, and trading 2021 first-round pick Mac Jones to the Jaguars for a sixth-round selection.
New England had its worst season in over three decades last season, going 4-13 and finishing last in the AFC East.
