Bill Belichick makes bold statement about the Patriots QB position
By Devin Hurst
Speaking with the media on Tuesday, head coach Bill Belichick didn't put his stamp of approval on who would be the New England Patriots quarterback for the 2023 season. Most believe the former first-round pick Mac Jones is clearly going to be the starter, but Belichick sure did blur the lines on that with his recent statements when asked about the position.
While speaking with Sirius XM NFL Radio, Belichick left the door open on there being a possible quarterback competition in camp. In the interview, the future Hall of Fame coach said the guys will compete, and see how it goes. Later, speaking with the media at practice, Belichick was pressed on these comments and in a sense, doubled down on his previous statement.
Now this could clearly be Belichick just doing his regular schtick of not giving the media anything to bite on and just saying all guys need to compete during camp etc. By doing this though in reality he gave everyone the story we all wanted. It would have put any possible quarterback controversy to rest had he just come out and said Mac is our guy and that is our plan coming into the 2023 season. On Musket Fire alone, there has been a quarterback controversy about whether it should be Jones or the second-year pro Bailey Zappe.
Tried to pin Belichick down today on whether Mac Jones is the starting QB. He didn’t explicitly say “yes” pic.twitter.com/ZleFFijr9L
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) August 1, 2023
Another tidbit in this scrum that was mentioned is the relationship between Mac Jones and the head coach. Much has been discussed saying how the relationship was rocky, to say the least, this offseason as reports indicate that Belichick was trying to trade the young QB. After a long offseason, following a losing 2022 season, it seemed like the pair had mended fences and the relationship was on the up and up.
Now with the 71-year-old head coach coming out to the media and implying there may be a quarterback competition, does this rock the boats and maybe lose the trust of the young quarterback? Time will tell and it will be interesting to see what Jones has to say the next time he speaks with the media if this is brought to his attention.