After the New England Patriots' loss to the Washington Commanders on Sunday night at FedEx Field, head coach Jerod Mayo will have a decision to make regarding who will be leading the offense when his team takes the field in Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Mayo has repeatedly said that veteran free-agent signing Jacoby Brissett is the starter, but he's also stated that it's a competition between Brissett and rookie first-round pick Drake Maye.
Brissett left Sunday night's game with a shoulder injury that he suffered on a sack, but through three preseason games, Maye has outplayed Brissett. The rookie has completed 61.8% of his passes for 192 yards and a touchdown while the veteran completed just 35.7% of his attempts for 36 yards and an interception.
During Mayo's Monday morning appearance on WEEI, he assessed his two options for the starting job.
"We got in at 4 o'clock in the morning," Mayo said (transcribed by ESPN's Mike Reiss). "Jacoby may come in here today and say his shoulder is no good. So, I'm not going to get too far down the road on if Jacoby could play or couldn't play.
"What I will say is this is a true competition and I would say, at this current point, Drake has outplayed Jacoby. Now, in saying that, we have to take in the full body of work, going all the way back to the spring and beginning of training camp. And, we'll see where we end up. But, those are the conversations that will happen here over the next couple of days."
Mayo followed that up in his Monday media availability explaining the decision he'll have to make.
"I would say it starts in practice and also in the game where Drake has played better," Mayo said (transcribed by PFN's Dakota Randall). "Now, in saying that, everyone wants to know who the starters will be; I think there are multiple factors that will have to go into this decision. One is the total body of work. ... And, oftentimes, I think we forget about the overall body of experience that Jacoby has."
There's less than two weeks before New England's season opener, and at this point, it wouldn't be surprising to see either guy under center.
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