Yesterday on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Felger & Mazz, Paul Perillo who works for the team and Patriots.com, talked about how the two young quarterbacks of the New England Patriots relationship “is not a great one”. It may not be surprising that there is no relationship between Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe since they are competing for a starting job, but it is surprising to hear this confirmed by a member of the Patriots media team.
Perillo went on to compare this relationship to one of the past between future Hall of Famer Tom Brady and now Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. He said how at the time both did not have a relationship but have now built one as they are not competing against each other for the starting job.
The clip goes on to say how he doesn’t suspect this to be much of an issue for the team during the season. Honestly, Bill Belichick should be to blame for this even becoming an issue. In a week seven game versus the Chicago Bears last season Belichick was switching between the two young quarterbacks. This was the start of the fractured relationship between the initial starter Jones and the head coach.
During this offseason, reports circulated about the Hall of Fame coach trying to trade Mac Jones. While at this point it seems like the pair are on better terms, all of this speculation, and indecisiveness during the 2022 NFL season may have a ripple effect on the Patriots quarterback room going forward.
As for the effect this could have on the Patriots season, ultimately I believe it will be minimal. It seems clear that Jones will be the starter going into week one, and if he plays well then this will be forgotten about. Now if Jones plays poorly and we start hearing the Zappe chants from the Patriots faithful in Foxboro, then maybe we will be back here revisiting how things went wrong.