Sources: Patriots making change at QB, Drake Maye to start Sunday

BOSTON — The future is now.

The New England Patriots will start rookie quarterback Drake Maye on Sunday, per sources.

This move comes after the team got out to a 1-4 start with Jacoby Brissett as their starting QB.

Maye, the 2024 third-overall pick, has appeared in just one game, relieving Brissett in Week 3 during a blowout loss to the Jets. He went 4-of-8 for 22 yards with two carries for 12 yards.

The UNC product impressed during the preseason with head coach Jerod Mayo saying that Maye was outperforming Brissett by the end of the summer. Through the first four weeks of the season, Mayo maintained that Brissett still gave the Patriots a better chance to win. That changed Monday morning, when he would no longer confirm that the veteran QB was still the team’s starter.

“When I meet with the coaches today, it’s about we’re in a solution-driven business, and we aren’t playing good football,” Mayo said Monday morning. “We have to look at every single unit and every single player and figure out how we use this roster to go out there and win games.”

That led many to believe that a change was imminent.

Brissett, who signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Patriots this offseason, averaged just 139.2 yards per game before getting benched. He was 18-of-34 for 160 yards in the Patriots’ 15-10 Week 6 loss to the Dolphins. The Patriots are averaging just 12.4 points per game, which is second-worst in the NFL. Their 119.4 passing yards per game is league-worst.

“It just wasn’t good enough,” Mayo said of Brissett’s performance in Week 5. “I thought we played well enough defensively and on special teams to win the football game. Look, as the quarterback, and he understands this, he touches the ball on every single play and we didn’t win the game, or score enough points to win the game. I think he would echo that same sentiment that it wasn’t good enough.”

Maye faces a tough task in Week 6 against the Houston Texans, who are allowing just 274.2 yards per game, the fourth-lowest in the NFL. The Texans’ defense owns the NFL’s highest pressure rate at 42%. The Patriots’ offense is allowing a pressure rate of 48.3%, also the highest clip in the NFL.

Maye has been improving in practice, per a team evaluator. The 22-year-old QB still makes some errors and will occasionally revert to bad habits, which is to be expected from a rookie, but overall, he’s performing well.

The thought, from one team evaluator, is that any rookie mistakes Maye makes will be outweighed by the upside he brings.

Maye finished the preseason with a 61.8% completion percentage with 192 passing yards and one touchdown in 38 dropbacks. He also added 10 rushing attempts for 60 yards with a touchdown.

After Week 6 against the Texans, the Patriots’ schedule lightens up in Week 7 against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. They’ll then take on the Jets, who just fired head coach Robert Saleh.

____