Bill Belichick sets record straight about Patriots' mistake with Drake Maye

Besides the typical and expected criticism any new head coach receives early in their tenures, especially one replacing a legendary person like Bill Belichick, Jerod Mayo has received a lot of flack for his decision to only have Drake Maye play in one series during the team's preseason opener last week.

The expectation was that Jacoby Brissett, the known starting quarterback for the 2024 season, would start the game, and the reps would then move down the depth chart, starting with Maye once Brissett was done for the night. That's how it began, only for the rookie to be sidelined after just one drive.

It was a decision criticized in real-time and in the days since, and although Mayo has explained his thought process, most fans and reporters aren't satisfied. Because Maye is presumed to be the quarterback of the future with the potential to start some games during the upcoming season, putting him in for more than seven plays felt like a given.

Instead, Mayo had Bailey Zappe run the offense for most of the game, with Joe Milton III closing things out.

The head coach has since made it clear that Maye will see the field much more this week against the Eagles, who come to Foxboro on Tuesday for a joint practice. Whether or not Maye will be used more during Thursday's game is unknown, but respected minds of the game don't think it's as big of a deal as many are making it out to be.

Bill Belichick sets record straight about Patriots' mistake with Drake Maye

During a Monday appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Belichick was asked about the rookie class of quarterbacks and the varying usage they saw this past weekend.

With so much experience under his belt as a longtime head coach, he has faced the same criticism that Mayo is dealing with but doesn't view limited time on the field as bad for rookie quarterbacks in the preseason. He said as much in his response, without name-dropping any specific player, seemingly putting doubts surrounding Maye's abilities and Mayo's decision to rest.

"I think we're gonna have to judge the rookies when they get to the regular season. Preseason is a good time to gain experience and get a little bit of game exposure, but especially at the quarterback position, the defenses are very basic.

There's not a lot of scheme, and when you're on the defensive side of the ball, you're playing, let's call it, three-deep throughout the course of the game -- first quarter to midway through the third quarter to another group to finish the game. You're running the same things the whole game. You're not game planning. You're not showing too much. You're just trying to run the stuff you've been practicing.

So, what the quarterbacks see in preseason and what they see in joint practices, and then what they see during the regular season, I think, are going to be quite different. It's almost like playing in an All-Star Game, where you just see a handful of coverages."

He makes a fair point, and more fans need to keep it in mind when attempting to evaluate a player's career trajectory. Whether they're rookies or players on the roster bubble, how they perform during a preseason game doesn't tell you anything incredibly concrete.

It can show you that they're talented and certainly capable of being great players, but until they face legitimate competition during a regular-season NFL game, you won't know the real type of player they are.

That applies to a guy like Maye, who has underwhelmed so far in training camp and the preseason during his limited availability. Although it wasn't ideal for Mayo to keep the rookie on the bench for most of the game, it's not a decision that will harm his potential or prove anything one way or another about the type of quarterback he is and will be.

That might be considered a positive spin on a situation that isn't viewed that way, but Belichick typically knows what he's talking about when evaluating talent and understanding the mind of a head coach, so it's fair to assume he's onto something here regarding rookie quarterbacks. After all, he did coach quite a few of them during his career.

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