There’s nothing wrong with a little friendly competition at the quarterback position. That’s the mindset the New England Patriots are reportedly keeping with Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe ahead of the 2023 season, per ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
An unexpected quarterback controversy emerged last season after Jones went down with an ankle injury.
The Zappe-Mania phenomenon was born as the rookie fourth-round draft pick stepped up and led the team to back-to-back wins over the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns, after nearly knocking off the Green Bay Packers on the road at Lambeau Field.
Reiss wrote:
While they aim to put more support around Jones than they did in 2022, Belichick & Co. also want to see him step up as a leader. And they like the idea of Zappe — who was seeing an increase in practice reps by the end of last season — pushing him.
There will be a lot of pressure on Jones heading into his third season, especially after he basically fell off a cliff from a production standpoint in Year 2. He finished the season with 2,997 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
The Patriots have replaced Matt Patricia as the offensive play-caller with longtime veteran offensive coach Bill O’Brien. They’ve also hired Adrian Klemm as the new offensive line coach, along with making several additions to the offensive roster, including signing JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Robinson and Mike Gesicki.
And there could be even more moves down the line.
Everything is in place for Jones to take off like he did in his rookie year. But if he doesn’t, Zappe will be ready and waiting to step into the spotlight, and this time, perhaps permanently.
