FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots have yet to name their starting quarterback for Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season, though all indications point to veteran Jacoby Brissett. The Patriots drafted Drake Maye at No. 3 overall and it appears the team's approach will be letting him learn behind Brissett, who is in his second stint with the team.
Brissett is playing with the ones at practice, while Maye has yet to do so.
On Tuesday, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo gave some more insight to the quarterback competition, when he announced that the plan is to start Brissett for their first preseason game on Thursday. He added that the team plans to give their No. 3 overall pick his first real NFL snaps.
"Drake [Maye] will play ... and when he gets in the game, we'll talk about that," Mayo said, but did not say how long the rookie will be out there.
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo says the plan right now is to have Jacoby Brissett start in team’s preseason opener vs. Panthers.
— Shanna (@shanna_mcc) August 6, 2024
Says No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye “will play” and all four QBs will be out there at some point. pic.twitter.com/TtIuz60vSj
Their quarterback room also includes Bailey Zappe, who was with the Patriots last year, and 2024 sixth-round draft pick Joe Milton III. Mayo says all four guys will see playing time against the Carolina Panthers this week.
"Look, everyone who is healthy enough to play in the game will play in the game. ... As of today that's the plan, to have all those guys out there play," Mayo said, joking that this information is "more than you've ever gotten from me."
He explained that the expectation is always that everyone's going to play, saying, "We don't want to just sit people out and lose an opportunity to go out there with live bullets flying."
With two days until the game, Mayo admitted that while this is the plan right now, the plan could change as the week continues to progress.
His philosophy is that the players need to get the experience, and that is shown with the surprise live tackling that took place during Monday's practice. Mayo wants to see how these players react in a real game situation.
"Once again, it goes back to competing," Mayo said. "So yesterday, you saw the live tackling period and things like that, that I think is very important. And you don't want the first time these guys get hit or hit someone else to be in the preseason game. We gotta see what these guys can do with live action."
As the team continues to evaluate the players in order to make decisions on who will be the starters, Mayo says it is practice more than preseason that is weighed into the decisions.
When asked if there is additional urgency to improve the roster, with a trade like San Francisco 49ers Brandon Aiyuk, because they have a young quarterback, Mayo said the drive to acquire talent is the same no matter the age of their passer.
"There's always a sense of urgency to get good players. Everyone talks about young quarterbacks and surrounding them with good players. Look we have an older quarterback and we want to surround him with good players as well. We're gonna put the best team out there that we can."
The coach added that they are "identifying pieces that will have us win now," noting that, "On the outside we don't have a chance, but we're always trying to get the team better."
