Jerod Mayo puts an end to the Joe Milton III hype after Patriots preseason win

The Patriots had their first preseason game of the year last week, and it gave the fans a great opportunity to see the progress of the ever-developing roster. Based on how Jerod Mayo decided to switch out the players throughout the game, we got a glimpse of almost every guy on the roster, with most focused on the offense.

Most of the conversation immediately after and since the game has remained on the quarterback situation due to Mayo's decision to limit Drake Maye to just one series. On a more positive note, however, there has been a lot of hype surrounding Joe Milton III, who led the offense to the game's only touchdown and added a field goal to the scoreboard as well.

It kicked off a narrative that perhaps Milton was more prepared to be the team's starting quarterback than Maye, who the Patriots selected with the third overall pick in this year's draft.

Milton was known for being an exciting player with athleticism to match, on top of his impressive size at 6'5" and 240 lbs. That was on full display during his minutes in the game, as he made a 38-yard touchdown pass to JaQuae Baker and had a highlight-worthy 12-yard scramble for a first down, although it should have counted for a lot more.

But as thrilling as it was to see the rookie perform in a way that not many quarterbacks before him have in New England, Mayo shut down the hype surrounding the idea of Milton becoming the starter for the Patriots this year while speaking to reporters over the weekend.

Jerod Mayo puts an end to the Joe Milton III hype after Patriots preseason win

Besides Milton's exciting performance, there is a tendency in New England to create drama out of virtually anything surrounding the Patriots, hence the idea that Maye was outplayed by the other rookie quarterback drafted this year.

While Mayo praised Milton for his performance, he quickly ended the idea that he proved he was NFL-ready with just one preseason performance, detailing other parts of his game that the young player still needs to work on.

"Yeah, you know, just watching Joe run around and that athleticism is always a welcome sight. In saying that, there are still things for him to work on. One thing would be ball security. I know it looked cool, but it's always a dangerous thing, swinging the ball around like that, but this is a guy who is working hard every single day and getting better."

Typically, the old regime would not likely have discussed this simply because Bill Belichick avoided playing into any media-created drama. However, it was respectable for Mayo to address it as quickly as he did to hopefully stop the inevitable ongoing conflation before it got out of hand.

It also shows that he believes in both quarterbacks and is nowhere near giving up on Maye, as some have suggested. It's a nice difference in how speaking to reporters is approached, and although he has probably said too much during his short tenure, Mayo is doing a good job handling some more difficult conversations so far.

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