What Matt Corral Addition Means For Patriots’ Quarterback Room

Matt Corral now is the second quarterback on the Patriots’ roster along with Mac Jones. But is he the new QB2? Not necessarily.

New England added Corral to its 53-man roster Thursday by claiming him off waivers from the Carolina Panthers. The move indicated Bill Belichick and Bill O’Brien are intrigued by the 2022 third-round draft pick and want to work with him, but it didn’t guarantee Corral will be Jones’ primary backup when the Patriots host the Philadelphia Eagles in next Sunday’s season opener.

That job still could belong to Bailey Zappe, who was Jones’ top understudy as a rookie last season.

Zappe, whom the Patriots released during final roster cuts, re-signed to the practice squad Wednesday after clearing waivers. NFL rules allow teams to elevate a practice squad player to the gameday roster up to three times in a season, with that player only allowed to dress for a fourth game if he is officially promoted to the 53.

So, even with Corral aboard, the Patriots could choose to temporarily call up Zappe next Sunday to serve as Jones’ No. 2, with Corral either dressing as an emergency third-stringer or sitting out as a healthy scratch. They could do the same in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins and Week 3 against the New York Jets.

Once Zappe is out of elevations, Belichick then could decide whether to sign him to the active roster and dump Corral, keep Zappe around on the P-squad, or release him.

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Zappe did not perform well in training camp and the preseason and seemed to struggle to grasp O’Brien’s new scheme, but he at least has a year of experience with New England. Asking Corral to immediately step in and back up Jones 10 days after signing — meaning he’d be one injury away from seeing regular-season game action for the first time in his young career — would be a risky bet, especially since Jones could be playing behind an injury-depleted offensive line.

It’s also worth noting there are no rules governing how long the Patriots need to keep Corral on their roster. This isn’t like signing a player off another team’s practice squad, after which that player must remain on the new club’s roster for at least three weeks.

Back in 2018, the Patriots claimed wide receivers Amara Darboh and Chad Hansen off waivers following cutdown day, and both were gone within a week. We saw another example just this month, when New England claimed nose tackle Marquan McCall and then instantly cut him due to a failed physical.

Corral is an intriguing long-term project, however. He missed his entire rookie season with a Lisfranc injury suffered against the Patriots last August, but his head coach at Ole Miss was Lane Kiffin, who runs an Alabama-inspired offense. O’Brien, the Patriots’ new offensive coordinator, was the Crimson Tide’s OC for the last two seasons and is expected to implement several Bama concepts into his Jones-led Patriots scheme.

The 24-year-old Corral also offers more athleticism and rushing ability than Zappe, though both are undersized by QB standards.

If nothing else, he’s a future-focused dart throw for the Patriots, who clearly were not sold on Zappe’s ability to be even a quality No. 2.