It feels like we’ve all seen enough.
Not just enough flashes of good stuff from Patriots No. 3 overall pick QB Drake Maye.
But enough of the flashes of ugly plays and missed preseason opportunities from penciled-in New England journeyman veteran starting QB Jacoby Brissett.
Enough is enough.
Following Thursday night’s second preseason game in which Maye’s performance outshined his relatively meager numbers – 6-of-11 passing for 47 yards to go along with four rushes for 15 yards, including a 4-yard TD run – group-think, recency-bias reactions across Patriot Nation are simple: Start Maye!
As is so often the case in these QB competition debates, playing the young gun is just as much about the lackluster abilities of the would-be starter as it is the readiness and preparedness of the hot-shot rookie. QBs who sit to open NFL careers do so, generally, behind a quarterback capable of doing the job at a higher level, at least in the short term. And QBs who play right away, or relatively swiftly, do, generally, because the guy ahead of them isn’t really actually a better option, even for a short time period.
So here we are.
Maye is making plays and inducing intrigue. Brissett is making mistakes and creating concern.
With three-plus weeks to go before the 2024 regular season opener in Cincinnati there is no question that it feels like the New England QB competition – and Jerod Mayo has made it clear all along the way that while Brissett has been considered the starter this offseason, it is indeed an open competition – is trending Maye’s way.
And Mayo seems open to the idea of starting Maye from Day 1.
“When he's ready to go, and if he's better than Jacoby, then he'll play; he'll start,” Mayo said immediately after Week 2 preseason action against the Eagles.
Hours later in a media video call Mayo said the “competition isn’t over,” again leaving the door very much open for his upstart rookie.
Because, really, what is the point of starting Brissett for a week? Or a month?
Oh, worried about damaging Maye? Ruining his career? Derailing his development?
You can’t break a diamond.
And make no mistake, Maye was drafted to be and has shown signs this summer that he very much is a true diamond.
Of course that’s not to say it will be easy. Or that there will not be significant bumps in the developmental road. Or that Maye hasn’t struggled at times on the practice fields, looking very much like a rookie.
There will be bad days. Disastrous days even. But each of those come with the job, come as learning experiences and opportunities.
And if Maye can’t handle the pressure – literally in terms of working behind an offensive line that needs significant upgrades to reach even suspect status and figuratively in regards to the pressure of a job that can crush mere mortal men at the position – then he isn’t the athlete, player and leader that the Patriots believed him to be on draft day. That Eliot Wolf and Co. should still believe Maye to be today.
If that’s the case, better to learn that mistake sooner rather than later.
So Maye should start, sooner rather than later.
And Brissett, well he should return to the backup job he’s held most of his career, the role he’s for better or worse clearly so well suited for.
It feels like we’ve all seen enough.
It might feel like a knee-jerk reaction, maybe even an overreaction.
It also feels right.
Drake Maye’s time has come. His time is right now.