Patriots Great Predicts Surprise QB Decision For Giants Game

Who will the Patriots start at quarterback this Sunday? Devin McCourty expects them to bypass their first- and second-stringers and go with option No. 3.

Asked Wednesday for his starting QB prediction, the retired New England safety chose Will Grier.

“Honestly, from looking at some of the reports, I think it’s going to be Will Grier,” McCourty said on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” “I think all of the media portions (of practice) have been Bailey (Zappe) and Mac (Jones) going back and forth, taking the first-team reps, but I think that they’re doing that to make sure no one knows.”

Despite the rumors around Bailey Zappe, Devin McCourty believes that the Patriots might go in a different direction and start Will Grier! pic.twitter.com/ZvCbJJtVkd

— The Greg Hill Show (@TheGregHillShow) November 22, 2023

As McCourty noted, Jones and Zappe were the top two quarterbacks during the brief open media portion of Tuesday’s practice. Bill Belichick also stressed multiple times that the vast majority of Grier’s reps since he joined the Patriots in September have come on the scout team.

Grier did see some first-team reps in New England’s lone bye-week practice, but Belichick explained that as the team having “an opportunity to kind of give the guys that didn’t play as much an opportunity to run more of our stuff.”

The 28-year-old Grier has not appeared in a regular-season game since his rookie year in 2019, but he exuded confidence when speaking with reporters Tuesday, saying he wanted a chance to become New England’s version of Joshua Dobbs.

“If I get the opportunity, I’m just going to go play and win,” the 2019 third-round draft pick said.

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In McCourty’s eyes, one of Grier’s greatest assets is that he’s not Jones or Zappe, both of whom have struggled this season. Jones has been benched three times and threw at least one interception in all eight of the Patriots’ losses, and Zappe, whom the team cut and re-signed before the season, completed just 40% of his passes across his three relief appearances.

“I think to bench Mac in that last game in Germany against the Colts with two minutes left, I just think they’ve seen a lot of Zappe, they’ve seen a lot of Mac,” McCourty said on WEEI. “Will Grier is a guy that they really haven’t seen much, and he’s a professional. He’s been in the league for a little while in different situations. I think there’s a chance he starts Sunday.”

Grier served as the Patriots’ emergency third QB in seven of their last eight games. The West Virginia product previously logged stints with Carolina, Dallas and Cincinnati.

Belichick would not announce a starter during his Tuesday news conference, saying he told Jones, Zappe, Grier and rookie Malik Cunningham all to be “ready to go.” Jones said Wednesday that he hoped to start, adding: “That’s the plan, I think.”