It’s time for the Patriots to make a change at QB and start rookie Drake Maye

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — After his third fumble on another miserable day for the New England Patriots offense, quarterback Jacoby Brissett looked up toward the cloudless California sky and exhaled.

Again, he'd been valiant and tough in the face of constant pressure. His ability and willingness to keep getting up despite the pounding he was taking was remarkable. The veteran deserves to be celebrated for his professionalism and positive approach to this less-than-ideal setup he's been dropped into.

And yet, that's no excuse for the reality of the Patriots' situation after a second straight blowout loss, the latest a 30-13 drubbing at the hands of a banged-up San Francisco 49ers team in which New England's offense was inept and left the team with just one touchdown in its last eight quarters of football.

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So I'm not afraid to say it: It's time for a change. It's time for Drake Maye to become the Patriots' starting quarterback. It's time to begin the next chapter, the one that will ultimately decide how successful this post-Bill Belichick era is.

The Patriots have been clear about their plan to sit Maye — the No. 3 pick in April's draft and the second-youngest quarterback drafted — for as long as possible. The Green Bay Packers connections run deep within the Patriots, and they want to follow the model that worked for Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love . The longer they could develop Maye on the sideline, they felt, the better.

But they're running out of time to be able to justify doing that. You can't insist that you're giving the 2024 season everything you've got while continuing to trot out this Brissett-led offense. It's a broken unit that needs everything to fall just right to have even a chance at winning. Their 13 points per game are the fewest of any team in the NFL that has played four games.

Put simply, the offense has been so bad that the Patriots are in the unenviable predicament of either playing their prized first-round pick before they initially wanted or becoming a laughing stock for the season's remaining 13 games thanks to their barely functioning offense. The former is the correct move.

It was the smart decision to start Brissett at first. The team is lacking in weapons at wide receiver, and the offensive line is worse. It's not a good setup for any quarterback, let alone a rookie who just turned 22. So let the veteran play to start the season. Let him get you into the right plays at the line of scrimmage and compete while Maye learns the ropes. That was all wise in theory.

But in actuality, Brissett's limitations are compounded by the holes on this roster. He's not mobile in the way that Maye is, which makes him a sitting duck behind a bad and inexperienced offensive line. And he doesn't have the arm strength Maye does, which hurts as defenses increasingly load the box against the Pats, daring them to win with downfield passes.

"They were starting to sit on us a lot and not backing up a little bit," Brissett admitted Sunday.

After the game, first-year coach Jerod Mayo gave no indication he was planning to switch to Maye. "At this point, Jacoby is our starting quarterback," he said. "We have a long flight to go back and watch the film, and we're always evaluating every single position."

Mayo is in a tricky situation. He's trying to usher in an era of collaboration with the franchise, working closely with executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, son of Ron Wolf, the Hall of Fame architect of the Packers who was with Green Bay when Rodgers sat and learned behind Brett Favre. It has been clear since the draft that Wolf wanted Maye to take his time and develop, an idea that clearly has been shared by offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, who worked with Wolf in Green Bay.

But Mayo also has to keep an eye on what's happening on the field, and he doesn't want to see his rookie season disappear into irrelevance before mid-October. That's in jeopardy of happening if the Patriots don't make a switch.

"We have to do a better job of getting the ball out of our hand right now," Mayo said, a rare critique from him of the quarterback play. "And then secondly, I would say the offensive line just has to do a better job holding up in protection."

Now, it's certainly fair to note that the Patriots' issues on offense extend well beyond the quarterback. New England's offensive line is the worst in the NFL at pass protection, and the receivers are among the worst groups in the league at getting separation.

Putting Maye in at quarterback wouldn't be a fix-all move. To be sure, Maye would come with his own issues. There would be rookie mistakes and probably some bad interceptions. There's also the risk of injury, especially with this offensive line.

But the ceiling is so much higher with Maye. His play would, at worst, make this offense interesting to watch and, at best, turn it into a functional group capable of pushing the ball downfield and yielding first downs with his scrambling ability.

Part of the reason the Patriots have rolled with Brissett thus far is they feel he mitigates mistakes. But that's not what we saw on Sunday. He threw a bad pick six. He fumbled three times. He forced passes.

That's part of why the Patriots have such a dysfunctional passing game. They have the fewest passing yards in the league and rank 30th in completion percentage. New England hasn't had a quarterback throw for 200 yards in six games dating back to last season and hasn't thrown for 250 yards in 14 games.

With numbers like that, something has to change. Even if it wasn't initially the plan, it's time to switch to the quarterback they hope will lead them for years to come.

(Photos: Neville E. Guard / Imagn Images)