Jacoby Brissett Makes Funny Admission About Backing Up Tom Brady

Jacoby Brissett likely will open the 2024 season as the New England Patriots’ starting quarterback, but his role in many ways extends beyond that.

Brissett has earned a reputation as a model teammate and leader throughout his eight-year NFL career, making him perhaps the perfect mentor for Patriots rookie QB Drake Maye.

“I just personally think — and this is not in a cocky way — that I’m very confident in my skills and what I bring to the table as a player that it takes nothing away from me being a good person and just helping somebody,” Brissett said Monday on “Up & Adams” with Kay Adams when asked about his new Patriots role. “It doesn’t cost anything to be a good teammate. Because if something happens to me, I want the next person to come in and I don’t want the standard to change.

“That was the same thing when Tom (Brady) was here, when Jimmy (Garoppolo) was here. We all competed against each other, but we also helped each other. We wanted our (quarterback) room to be the best room in the league. That’s the ultimate goal. I want all of us to play for 40 years, 50 years, however long we want to play. And if I can be a sprinkle in somebody’s career, helping them out, I think that’s a success.”

The Patriots drafted Brissett in the third round in 2016. He appeared in three games (two starts) with New England — Tom Brady was suspended that year — before being traded to the Indianapolis Colts in September 2017, kickstarting a journey that has seen Brissett suit up for the Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns and Washington Commanders, as well.

Now, Brissett is back in Foxboro, signing a one-year contract with the Patriots this offseason. And he is the established veteran this time around, with Maye looking to prove himself as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

While discussing the quarterback dynamic in New England, Kay Adams asked Brissett whether Brady always helped him during his first Patriots tenure. And the 31-year-old made a funny admission that speaks to the competitiveness within that 2016 QB room, which also featured 2014 second-round pick Jimmy Garoppolo.

“Oh, hell no,” Brissett said, seemingly joking. “No, I’m sorry. He didn’t always; it was always a competition, for sure.”

“I think that’s what it all boils down to,” he then added of the respect that existed between him and Brady as teammates, “because at the end of the day, we all have the same jersey on, same helmet on. Regardless of who they put out there, who’s going to be the starter is going to be the starter. At the end of the day, it’s like I said, we want our group and our room to be the best in the league.”

The Patriots have a long way to go before they can say they have an elite quarterback room, let alone the NFL’s best. But things certainly seem to be trending in the right direction, which is an encouraging sign for New England after a disappointing 2023 season marred by inconsistent QB play.