This Was Jerod Mayo’s Worst Decision In First Half Of Patriots Season

Jerod Mayo relayed a very telling remark as the Patriots’ preseason wrapped up.

New England’s first-year head coach openly hailed Drake Maye as the team’s top-performing quarterback of the summer. The “revelation” wasn’t totally surprising, as the rookie signal-caller arrived in Foxboro, Mass., with a far greater skill set and talent level than his colleagues.

But when the Patriots kicked off their regular season, Maye was holding a clipboard. He initially was designated as the backup to Jacoby Brissett, a respected veteran with a wealth of starting experience and a familiarity with the system run by new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. Brissett kicked off his second stint in New England with a surprising win in Cincinnati, but the upset arguably had more to do with the Bengals’ Week 1 ineptitude.

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From there, the Patriots and their fans endured a brutal stretch of putrid offensive football. After an overtime home loss to the Seattle Seahawks, New England was outscored 69-26 over its next three games. Brissett and company operated so poorly that Maye’s projected promotion arrived sooner than expected, with the 22-year-old taking over behind center in Week 6.

The North Carolina product immediately impressed. Sure, there were hiccups along the way, but that’s to be expected from a first-year player. The lowlights also were outdone by flashes of franchise quarterback potential. Maye accounted for a combined seven touchdowns with 748 total passing yards and 197 rushing yards over his first four starts. Brissett didn’t eclipse 170 passing yards in any of his five starts, which only featured a combined two touchdowns.

Yes, some hindsight probably is required to say Mayo definitely made the wrong call about waiting over a month to start Maye. However, there was writing on the wall in the summer. Patriots coaches raved about how quickly the No. 3 overall pick progressed and picked up the offense. Players, meanwhile, clearly gravitated toward Maye from the get-go and had a notable pep in their step when he was behind center. It didn’t take a football genius to know Maye’s vast skill set could allow Van Pelt to open up the playbook, while Brissett limited the offense to ground-and-pound.

A de-facto redshirt year was never going to be in the cards for Maye. Great quarterbacks who took that path in the past — Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers — sat behind great-to-elite QBs before they moved to the top spot of the depth chart. It was only a matter of time before Maye usurped the extremely limited Brissett, and unfortunately for the Patriots, Mayo waited too long and the season was lost by the time the change was made.

This isn’t to say the Patriots would have followed a trajectory similar to Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders if Maye was the guy from Day 1. But the budding star probably would have inspired confidence from the outset of the season and potentially prevented some of the early season distractions. Morale was incredibly low in New England in September and into October, and players reacted accordingly.

Mayo has had several slip-ups since he took over for Bill Belichick, and in his defense, he was forced to play a difficult hand. But not starting Maye right away was his biggest mistake, and it could have been prevented pretty easily.