The New England Patriots are entering a new era for their franchise. Legendary tight end Rob Gronkowski is wondering why they are avoiding taking their final step. As everyone is well aware, the Patriots ended the Mac Jones experiment by trading the former first-round pick (and Tom Brady replacement) to the Jacksonville Jaguars where he will backup Trevor Lawrence. They also parted ways with former head coach and general manager Bill Belichick.
To replace their six-time Super Bowl champion coach and executive, the Patriots promoted Jerod Mayo to head coach and made Eliot Wolf their de facto general manager. Their new leadership team set to work on rebuilding New England, which finished 4-13 last season, in hopes that they can return the franchise to Super Bowl-winning ways.
The New England Patriots Took Quarterback Drake Maye in the 2024 NFL Draft
The Patriots faced a tough decision with the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels, the consensus two top quarterbacks in the class, were already off the board. With the third overall selection, New England could have taken standout wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who is a generational talent at his position.
Instead, they decided to select Drake Maye, the quarterback out of North Carolina. In doing so, they set the foundation for him being their quarterback of the future.
However, the Patriots did not want Maye to be forced into starting in the NFL before he was ready. Despite being a high draft pick, he still has things he can improve upon before being tasked as the starter. As a result, New England signed one of the former players, Jacoby Brissett, who has been a journeyman quarterback in the NFL for some time now.
The plan is for Brissett to be the starter in 2024 while Maye serves as his backup. Additionally, the Patriots drafted Joe Milton III out of Tennessee in the seventh round of the draft to provide depth and competition at the position.
The addition of the three quarterbacks listed above all but spelled the end of the road for 2022 fourth-round pick Bailey Zappe in New England.
New England Patriots Quarterback Bailey Zappe Got the Majority of Offensive Snaps vs the Carolina Panthers
The Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers 17-3 in their first preseason game. While the win, even in preseason, was good to see for a team as downtrodden as New England was last year, many fans were upset by the division of quarterback snaps.
Unsurprisingly, Brissett did not play very much as the team does not want to risk an injury to their starting quarterback. Going into the game, many assumed that Maye would get the majority of the snaps as he needs the experience.
That did not happen.
Maye ended up dropping back just three times, completing two of this three passes for 19 yards. Zappe, though, played a great deal of snaps, dropping back 23 times while completing 12 of his 20 passes for 108 yards.
Maye’s fellow rookie, Milton, completed four of six passes for 54 yards and a touchdown.
In other words, the player they drafted to be the future of their franchise played the fewest snaps of any of their four quarterbacks while Zappe, the one who will almost surely be cut, played the most.
And Rob Gronkowski wasn’t having it.
New England Patriots Legend Rob Gronkowski Puts His Former Team on Blast
In an appearance on Fox Sports’ “First Things First, Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski railed against his former team for giving Zappe so much playing time over both Maye and Milton. He said, “Bailey Zappe needs to be free.”
.@RobGronkowski says the Patriots need to get rid of Bailey Zappe 👀
“He’s taking away reps from Drake Maye and Joe Milton. Bailey Zappe is not going to be on that team by the end of training camp.” pic.twitter.com/DPcjR3xq9X
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) August 9, 2024
He continued, “They gotta either let him go or they gotta trade him, because he’s taking away reps from Drake Maye, he’s taking away reps from Joe Milton, and Bailey’s not going to be on that team by the end of training camp. Bailey Zappe needs to be free so he can go to another team and show what he has.”
The future Hall of Fame tight end has a point: Zappe deserves to go to a team that will want him to be a part of their future. Drafting Maye with the third overall pick proves that he is not in the Patriots’ long-term plans.
As such, he should not be playing over rookies who desperately need the reps. It was a bad decision to let him play that long.
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