How Bill O’Brien Views Patriots QBs Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe

Based on everything the New England Patriots have shown through eight training camp practices, there is no legitimate competition between Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe.

But Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien aren’t ready to publicly declare Jones their starting quarterback.

Speaking over video conference Friday, O’Brien acknowledged that Jones has received the vast majority of first-team reps so far in camp, with Zappe working almost exclusively with the backups. But the offensive coordinator echoed Belichick in saying the final decision will be performance-based.

“This is something that is very, very important about our system, our organization, our football team — that it’s always about performance,” said O’Brien, who also is the Patriots’ QBs coach. “It’s about consistent, high-level performance. Certainly, Mac gets most of the reps with the 1s. You’re at practice; you see that. But we have a lot of different guys rotating in and out of the lineup. Bailey gets most of the reps with the 2s — you can see that.

“But again, it’s really about consistent, daily performance. Who is performing at a high level on a consistent basis every day? These guys are working hard to do that. Their performance every day has gotten better and better.”

“Coach Belichick, at the end of the day, he’ll put the lineup out there and we’ll go to work.”

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Bill O’Brien

O’Brien also praised third-stringer Trace McSorley, who’s struggled with accuracy in his first Patriots summer but showed improvement in the second week of camp. Overall, O’Brien said the Jones/Zappe/McSorley trio is “one of the better quarterback rooms (he’s) ever been a part of.”

“So, look, I think at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about,” he continued. “It’s about (Friday night’s) practice. It’s about (Saturday), their day (off), and then Sunday’s practice, and who is on a day-to-day basis performing at a high level at every position. Then Coach Belichick, at the end of the day, he’ll put the lineup out there and we’ll go to work.”

O’Brien, who replaced the much-maligned Matt Patricia and Joe Judge this offseason, did speak highly of Jones multiple times during Friday’s call, saying they have a “really good” working relationship.

“Mac has done a really good job,” O’Brien said. “He’s worked extremely hard. I’ve really, really enjoyed coaching him.”

Jones enjoyed his best practice of training camp on Wednesday, completing 13-of-15 passes (with one throwaway) in a fully padded session. The third-year pro followed that with another solid day Thursday, going 18-for-25 despite spending half of practice throwing to New England’s reserve receivers.

Jones still repped with the first-team offensive line, but the Patriots paired him with the likes of Tre Nixon, Demario Douglas, Kayshon Boutte, Matt Sokol and Anthony Firkser for the first few rounds of 11-on-11 drills, which he viewed as a “challenge” from head coach Bill Belichick.

During that stretch, Zappe worked with the second O-line and top pass-catchers JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki. The Patriots returned to their normal personnel setup for the final three periods, and Jones peppered Smith-Schuster and Parker with targets in a strong end to practice.

“They work very hard,” O’Brien said of the Patriots’ three QBs. “They’re very smart. They’re here very early in the morning, and they stay late to get the job done. It’s been a great group to be around.”