5 lingering questions Patriots need to answer this summer

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Now that we're entering the quiet period of the NFL offseason, the Patriots will have to consider many factors when looking ahead to training camp and preseason, most of which revolve around the roster.

Many questions will need to be answered between now and then despite many already being determined over the last several months.

It's crucial that Jerod Mayo and Eliot Wolf determine the best course of action as soon as possible to avoid any hiccups and put the team in the best position to win this fall, starting with their plan for Drake Maye.

5 lingering questions Patriots need to answer this summer

1. Will Drake Maye play at all during his rookie season?

After the 2023 season, it was clear the Patriots needed to revamp their quarterback room, starting with Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. Because they held the third overall pick in the following draft, it was the perfect time to go all in to select their next franchise quarterback.

They did that by picking UNC's Drake Maye, solidifying that they got one of the best quarterbacks of the 2024 class. But given the state of the rest of the offense, there were big question marks surrounding the start of Maye's career in the NFL.

Because the need to avoid another Mac Jones experience from their next quarterback is one of the most critical factors to the start of the Jerod Mayo era, weighing the options of whether to start Maye or not is going to be taken more seriously than in years past.

On top of having a developing offense that isn't exactly built to help a rookie quarterback, the Patriots also have one of the hardest strengths of schedules for the season, which also doesn't bode well for a rookie's first season in the NFL. Couple these two factors, and it makes it easy for the team to decide Maye should sit behind Jacoby Brissett for much of, if not all, of his rookie year.

But at this time, we're unsure which direction Mayo will go in. The team has reiterated that Brissett is the starter, and that won't change until further notice. While that's understandable, they will need to weigh the pros and cons of starting and sitting Maye sooner rather than later so they can prepare accordingly.