Is the Patriots' starting QB job Jacoby Brissett's to lose? (2024)

Editor’s note: This is the first story in a 10-part series looking at the most intriguing New England Patriots players ahead of training camp.

Before free agency this spring, the Patriots decided they would use the third overall pick in the NFL Draft on a quarterback. That meant they wouldn’t be in the market for a high-end free-agent quarterback like Kirk Cousins.

Instead, they went a different direction, signing veteran Jacoby Brissett, a reunion for the 31-year-old in two ways. The move brought the 2016 third-round pick back to the team that drafted him. But it also reunited Brissett with offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, who he played for with the Cleveland Browns in 2022.

Now, Brissett is set to begin training camp as the Patriots’ starting quarterback — even with No. 3 pick Drake Maye aiming to unseat him. So let’s look at Brissett’s road here and what we might expect from him in 2024.

Then ➡️ Now@JBrissett12 | #NEPats pic.twitter.com/JzVBAEncYL

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) June 19, 2024

Offseason recap

The Patriots signed Brissett to a one-year, $8 million contract (with $4 million in incentives) for two reasons. First, they believe he can still be a solid starting quarterback in the NFL, partly because of Van Pelt’s positive experience with him. Second, they think he’s the perfect veteran to help develop a rookie.

Brissett may have limitations that keep him from being a top-20 quarterback. But coaches love that he does just about everything right. He’s good at getting the offense into the right play. His dropbacks are fluid, and he always ends up where coaches want him to be.

That’s not enough to make him a no-doubt starter, but it was enough for the Patriots to want that kind of player around Maye, who right now has, in some ways, the polar opposite skill set. Maye has all the tools but needs work on the fundamentals. The hope is some of what Brissett offers rubs off on Maye.

This offseason, Brissett took all of the snaps with the first-team offense. Van Pelt called him the team’s starting quarterback.

That undoubtedly will continue into the start of training camp. And as long as Maye doesn’t dramatically outperform him, Brissett will probably be the Week 1 starter.

History

With the Washington Commanders last season, Brissett took a backseat to Sam Howell and didn’t start any games.

The year before that, he started 11 games for the Browns while Deshaun Watson was suspended but became the backup after Watson returned. Brissett has started 48 games over his eight-year NFL career, totaling 51 touchdowns against 23 interceptions with a 61.3 percent completion rate and 6.6 yards per attempt.

X-factor

The Patriots’ difficult start to the schedule could force the team toward starting Brissett even if he and Maye have very similar training camps. Given that four of the team’s first five opponents have Super Bowl aspirations, the Patriots might conclude that starting Maye could hurt his confidence if the team struggles out of the gate.

So even if Brissett performs at about the same level as Maye in camp, he’ll likely still be the starter. After that, there are several windows in which the Patriots could turn to Maye instead of Brissett.

Reasons for optimism

Brissett’s advanced stats were quietly very good in his 11 games as the Browns’ starter in 2022 with Van Pelt as his coordinator.

He ranked seventh in expected points added per play, 10th in success rate and third in completion percentage over expected among all NFL quarterbacks in the first 11 weeks of that season. He even outperformed Watson, but the Browns weren’t going to give Brissett the starting job back after the massive investment the organization made in Watson.

So the hope is that Brissett can return to that level of play (or even approach it) in New England now that he’s being reunited with Van Pelt’s offensive system.

Reasons for concern

Honestly, there aren’t many.

The worst-case scenario is Brissett struggling in camp and becoming the backup quarterback behind Maye. If that’s the case, it’s a bummer for Brissett personally but totally fine for a rebuilding organization whose No. 1 goal this season is seeing positive strides from Maye.

Ideally, Brissett is good enough to start a handful of early games while showing Maye (who was only a starter for two years in college) what it takes to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. But even if that doesn’t happen, the Patriots would be fine seeing what Maye can do over a 17-game season.

What to watch in camp

Brissett is going to have a better grasp of the offense than Maye after playing in it for a full year. He’s going to get the reps with the starters, at least at the beginning.

But if Maye starts to string together some good practices and backs that up in the preseason games, at what point do they start to split snaps with the top unit?

The other thing to watch is how Brissett interacts with Maye on the field. Part of the reason Brissett is here is to help Maye develop. So if you go to practices, watch how often Brissett is in Maye’s ear with little tidbits and how the two work together.

(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)

Chad Graff is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the New England Patriots since 2022 after five years on the Minnesota Vikings beat. Graff joined The Athletic in January 2018 after covering a bit of everything for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He won the Pro Football Writers of America’s 2022 Bob Oates Award for beat writing. He's a New Hampshire native and an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of New Hampshire. Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadGraff