There’s nothing wrong with a little friendly competition over the quarterback position. According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the New England Patriots are reportedly brainstorming with Mack Jones and Bailey Zappe ahead of the 2023 season.
An unexpected quarterback controversy emerged last season after Jones injured his ankle.
The Zappe-Mania phenomenon was born as the rookie fourth-round draft pick led the team to back-to-back wins over the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns, nearly knocking off the Green Bay Packers on the road at Lambeau Field. Afterwards .
Rees wrote:
While he aims to support Jones more than he did in 2022, Belichick and company also want to see him as a leader. And he likes the idea of Zappé — who was seeing an increase in practice reps toward the end of last season — pursuing him.
There will be a lot of pressure on Jones going into his third season, especially after basically falling 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 replaced Matt Patricia with longtime veteran offensive coach Bill O’Brien as the offensive play-caller. They also hired Adrian Klemm as the new offensive line coach while making several additions to the offensive roster, including the signings of JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Robinson and Mike Gesicki.
And there may be more moves ahead.
Everything is in the right place for Jones like it did in his rookie year. But if he doesn’t, Zappe will be ready and waiting for his return to the spotlight, and this time, maybe permanently.
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