A little more than a week ago, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said Drake Maye had outplayed Jacoby Brissett during a radio interview on WEEI.
Despite holding that opinion, Mayo announced Jacoby Brissett as the team’s starting quarterback last week.
On Tuesday morning, Mayo was asked why he would start Brissett if he felt Maye had outplayed him.
“I should have given more context to the comment at the time,” Mayo said on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show. “Drake had more playing time in the preseason than Jacoby and that was intentional, so as we talk about the development plan we know what it is internally but it was definitely intentional.”
“We know what Jacoby can do. He has played a lot of ball in this league, we see him every day in practice and we know what he has done in the NFL. I have full confidence in Jacoby leading our team into the season and the players feel the same way.”
Maye went 21-for-34 with a passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown, and no interceptions during the three preseason games. Brissett went 5-for-14 for 36 yards no touchdowns and one interception.
However with several other factors considered, including the team’s development plan for Maye, concerns about the offensive line, and practice performance, Mayo decided that it would be best for Maye to begin the season as the backup.
“He’s going to continue to prepare as if he was the starter,” Mayo said of Maye. “It was a true competition and I just think you have to take it all in. At the end of the preseason – and I want to be very explicit about this – at the end of the preseason he was playing at a very high level.”
“Now, when we were thinking about who we were going to start for our team, we had to put a lot of thought into it,” Mayo added. “I would also say it would go all the way back into the sping when we first started talking about competition and competing. You would have to ask Drake how he felt about the conversation but I thought it went well.”
Mayo reiterated his desire to stick to New England’s development plan for Maye.
“From the time we signed Jacoby and drafted Drake we had a plan on how to best develop Drake and we’re going to stick to that no matter what happens,” Mayo said. “No matter what’s being said on the outside we’re going to stick to the plan, and it may not be the most popular plan but it’s the plan that I think is best for the team.”
