Patriots Off-Season News

[Goldstar88]

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo has chosen Jacoby Brissett as the team's starting quarterback as the veteran held off a late surge from rookie Drake Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in the draft.

"We have decided, or I have decided, that Jacoby Brissett will be our starting quarterback this season," Mayo said Thursday. "In saying that, as an organization, we are 100% behind Jacoby. There is no 'You got a guy right here, you got a guy right there.' We're 100% behind Jacoby."

[Roy H.]

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo has chosen Jacoby Brissett as the team's starting quarterback as the veteran held off a late surge from rookie Drake Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in the draft.

"We have decided, or I have decided, that Jacoby Brissett will be our starting quarterback this season," Mayo said Thursday. "In saying that, as an organization, we are 100% behind Jacoby. There is no 'You got a guy right here, you got a guy right there.' We're 100% behind Jacoby."

100% behind him as cannon fodder.

Does Jacoby have the least enviable position of any starting NFL QB right now?  No long-term future, no hope at the playoffs, no offensive line, and no proven above-average WRs.

[Donoghus]

It's the right move. Don't get the kid killed right off the bat with that horrific o-line.  Let him watch the offense and process from the sideline.  If the season starts off slow (which is will), let Brissett be the lightening rod.

There is zero incentive to rush the kid out there as a rookie starter on Day 1.

[Roy H.]

It's the right move. Don't get the kid killed right off the bat with that horrific o-line.  Let him watch the offense and process from the sideline.  If the season starts off slow (which is will), let Brissett be the lightening rod.

There is zero incentive to rush the kid out there as a rookie starter on Day 1.

What are your thoughts on the Bears starting Williams?

[jambr380]

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo has chosen Jacoby Brissett as the team's starting quarterback as the veteran held off a late surge from rookie Drake Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in the draft.

"We have decided, or I have decided, that Jacoby Brissett will be our starting quarterback this season," Mayo said Thursday. "In saying that, as an organization, we are 100% behind Jacoby. There is no 'You got a guy right here, you got a guy right there.' We're 100% behind Jacoby."

100% behind him as cannon fodder.

Does Jacoby have the least enviable position of any starting NFL QB right now?  No long-term future, no hope at the playoffs, no offensive line, and no proven above-average WRs.

He's 31 years old and still keeps getting signed to contracts despite never putting up a winning record as a starter or back-up. He's also made over $50M in his career.

I don't disagree with you at all, but he is at the point that he is lucky to be signed to any contract at all. And on top of that, he actually gets to play. Let's just hope for his sake that he can keep from getting injured.

[Donoghus]

It's the right move. Don't get the kid killed right off the bat with that horrific o-line.  Let him watch the offense and process from the sideline.  If the season starts off slow (which is will), let Brissett be the lightening rod.

There is zero incentive to rush the kid out there as a rookie starter on Day 1.

What are your thoughts on the Bears starting Williams?

He's walking into a better situation with his offense.  I have no qualms with him being their day 1 starter because Bears are better situated and established on that side of the ball.  IMO, the Pats offense is a mess right now and we're looking at a bottom rung NFL team this season.  Bears are coming off a 7 win season and I expect improvement there.

There's no cookie cutter way to handle rookie QBs.  Especially 1st rounders that are expected to be franchise guys down the road.  To me, situation dictates what you do with them.

[johnnygreen]

Brissett starting has essentially been written in stone since he was signed. There was never a QB competition.

What is mind boggling is the justification the fans are using for benching Maye. It is simply inexcusable for Elliot Wolfe and Robert Kraft to go into this season with this offensive line. The team is still $50M below the cap. I still maintain Wolfe should have drafted a lineman in the second round, or even moved up into the late first round. Instead he drafts a fifth/sixth round tackle in the third. This off-season has been a train wreck. Thank God, the draft analysis basically told Wolfe to pick Maye.

[Phantom255x]

Brissett starting has essentially been written in stone since he was signed. There was never a QB competition.

What is mind boggling is the justification the fans are using for benching Maye. It is simply inexcusable for Elliot Wolfe and Robert Kraft to go into this season with this offensive line. The team is still $50M below the cap. I still maintain Wolfe should have drafted a lineman in the second round, or even moved up into the late first round. Instead he drafts a fifth/sixth round tackle in the third. This off-season has been a train wreck. Thank God, the draft analysis basically told Wolfe to pick Maye.

Yep. That's all on the front office and ownership. It does make you wonder if maybe Belichick was actually hampered in his ability to spend by Kraft all these years. 2021 feels like the lone outlier in FA spending but around that year it's been a lot of cheaper signings.

Still baffles me they seem to neglect the O-Line. And sorry, but "drafting this guy and moving him to this position or asking some FA to play out of position" is not "solving anything", and that's what they seem to be doing. How about just sign or draft a guy AT that position 

[Goldstar88]

Brissett starting has essentially been written in stone since he was signed. There was never a QB competition.

What is mind boggling is the justification the fans are using for benching Maye. It is simply inexcusable for Elliot Wolfe and Robert Kraft to go into this season with this offensive line. The team is still $50M below the cap. I still maintain Wolfe should have drafted a lineman in the second round, or even moved up into the late first round. Instead he drafts a fifth/sixth round tackle in the third. This off-season has been a train wreck. Thank God, the draft analysis basically told Wolfe to pick Maye.

Yep. That's all on the front office and ownership. It does make you wonder if maybe Belichick was actually hampered in his ability to spend by Kraft all these years. 2021 feels like the lone outlier in FA spending but around that year it's been a lot of cheaper signings.

Still baffles me they seem to neglect the O-Line. And sorry, but "drafting this guy and moving him to this position or asking some FA to play out of position" is not "solving anything", and that's what they seem to be doing. How about just sign or draft a guy AT that position 

It always makes me laugh that people believe Kraft when he says that it was Bill who didn?t want to spend. How does that make any sense? Why wouldn?t Bill want to spend to the limit every year in order to get the best players possible. If I?m not mistaken, it?s the owner who tells the GM how much they can spend, not the other way around.

[johnnygreen]

Brissett starting has essentially been written in stone since he was signed. There was never a QB competition.

What is mind boggling is the justification the fans are using for benching Maye. It is simply inexcusable for Elliot Wolfe and Robert Kraft to go into this season with this offensive line. The team is still $50M below the cap. I still maintain Wolfe should have drafted a lineman in the second round, or even moved up into the late first round. Instead he drafts a fifth/sixth round tackle in the third. This off-season has been a train wreck. Thank God, the draft analysis basically told Wolfe to pick Maye.

Yep. That's all on the front office and ownership. It does make you wonder if maybe Belichick was actually hampered in his ability to spend by Kraft all these years. 2021 feels like the lone outlier in FA spending but around that year it's been a lot of cheaper signings.

Still baffles me they seem to neglect the O-Line. And sorry, but "drafting this guy and moving him to this position or asking some FA to play out of position" is not "solving anything", and that's what they seem to be doing. How about just sign or draft a guy AT that position 

This regime reminds me of Chiam Bloom and the Red Sox. Sign players, regardless of position and they'll figure it out.

The longer this off-season plays out, the better Belichick looks, while Kraft looks worse.

[Vermont Green]

I think starting Brissett is the right call.  I don't think Maye is ready, even if he has more raw talent.  The preseason games ran very plain schemes, both our offense and the opposing defenses.  Opposing coaches would have Maye's head spinning by changing at the line of scrimmage and so on.  The OL needs the QB to make certain line of scrimmage calls which Brissett will be better at.  The OL is going to need all the help it can get.

Maye probably plays at some point this season, but I have no prediction as to when.  Brissett may get hurt, Maye may shine in practice, who knows.  I think defining "ready" is one of those things that you can't describe but you know it when you see it.  I don't think the coaching staff is seeing "ready" right now.

[Jon]

So, I guess this the ?right? call?the offensive line is bad and Maye is still raw.

That said, Brissett looked bad in the preseason. If Mayo only plans to/ends up only starting Brissett 4-6 games before yanking him for Maye, what was really the point in doing that?

The offensive line still won?t be good and I?m not sure how much more Maye ?develops? on the bench for a month or two.

But I guess time will tell?

[kraidstar]

We're tanking this year guys. In the NFL you can roll cap space into the next year. And we have to spend 90% of the cap over a 3-year span due to NFL rules.

So we literally MUST spend big next offseason.

I don't particularly trust Wolf - he was part of the brain trust that left us with the worst offensive talent in the league- but I think his approach here is smart.

[Vermont Green]

I think our team is going to be up and coming.  The defense should be very solid, one of the best in the league, and is still fairly young.  The other end of the extreme is that our OL looks pretty bad right now, big problem, but fixable, maybe not this season, but fixable in the near term.

As to the skill positions, we have a group of really promising young receivers who still need to prove themselves or come of age, but there is some real talent there:

Douglas (23)
Thornton (24)
Polk (23)
Baker (22)
Boutte (22)

It will be interesting to see how this group develops.  Not all will develop but some will.  We could have a 10 year run out of this group.

[Goldstar88]

I think our team is going to be up and coming.  The defense should be very solid, one of the best in the league, and is still fairly young.  The other end of the extreme is that our OL looks pretty bad right now, big problem, but fixable, maybe not this season, but fixable in the near term.

As to the skill positions, we have a group of really promising young receivers who still need to prove themselves or come of age, but there is some real talent there:

Douglas (23)
Thornton (24)
Polk (23)
Baker (22)
Boutte (22)

It will be interesting to see how this group develops.  Not all will develop but some will.  We could have a 10 year run out of this group.

I?m hoping one of them can at least turn out to be a Jakoby Myers level talent. None of them really stood out in preseason, though.