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Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff WriterDec 15, 2024, 06:00 AM ET
- Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. QB vision & Brissett: When a team is 3-10 like the Patriots, the list of things that haven’t gone according to plan is longer than the list of things that have. Quarterback tops the latter list.
Multiple moves at the position — signing veteran Jacoby Brissett as a free agent, drafting Drake Maye No. 3 overall, and to a lesser degree having 2024 sixth-round pick Joe Milton III as a scout team developmental prospect — have been a silver lining in a challenging season.
Brissett led the team to a season-opening win and was exemplary in a three-quarter emergency relief performance in a late October victory over the Jets, but the offense struggled to score points in his five starts (12.4 average). And Maye, who benefitted from learning the all-encompassing ropes early from the 32-year-old Brissett, has flashed franchise quarterback potential since being elevated to the No. 1 role in Week 6 despite recording just one wire-to-wire win.
If the Patriots had their way, they would be returning the same group in 2025. According to sources involved in the negotiations, when the Patriots were courting Brissett in the offseason, they were offering him a two-year contract.
But Brissett preferred a one-year deal (for $8 million), giving him a chance to see how the 2024 season unfolded before charting his future and thus his return in 2025 now seems far less likely.
“I’m interested to see what my future holds. Hopefully, I get somewhere to land,” Brissett said this week leading up to Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS).
Asked if returning to New England would be a consideration, he didn’t completely close the door but wasn’t convincing, saying: “I don’t know. It’s kind of early to tell that.”
Brissett, tight end Austin Hooper (31 catches, 337 yards, 3 TD), safety Jaylinn Hawkins (35 tackles) and running back Antonio Gibson (79 carries, 373 yards, 4.7 avg, 1 TD) have turned out to be the highlights of Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf’s first free agent class.
It wasn’t the decisive group that Wolf and his staff hoped it would be, as evidenced by last week’s decision to waive receiver K.J. Osborn (one year, $4 million), with Osborn following offensive linemen Chukwuma Okorafor (one year, $4 million) and Nick Leverett (one year, $1.775 million) — both of whom the team was counting on in key roles coming out of training camp — out the door.
As for Brissett, he hasn’t talked with reporters much since being demoted to the No. 2 job after a 15-10 loss to the Dolphins on Oct. 6, preferring instead to fade into the background while allowing Maye to grow into more of a leadership role.
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In a quiet moment this week inside the locker room, he shared how challenging the season has been for him personally.
“There’s so much I could say, but I guess, ‘not ideal.’ Obviously, a unique situation here,” he said. “I’m not the one to make excuses, but at some point somebody is going to have to watch the film and understand what I was dealing with. I think that kind of speaks for itself. I think it’s very easy for people to blame the quarterback for things — that’s what this profession is — but yeah man, tough year.”
In his five starts, Brissett played behind five different starting offensive line combinations. Of the top four receivers he was throwing to — Osborn, Tyquan Thornton, DeMario “Pop” Douglas and Ja’Lynn Polk — Douglas is the only pass catcher who has kept his initial role (Thornton was waived and is now on the Chiefs’ practice squad).
In-game statisticians recorded 49 hits on Brissett through the first five games. Including when he came on for Maye and played three quarters in a win over the Jets in Week 8, he is 94-of-159 for 828 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception this season. Brissett said his performance has motivated him to want to play in 2025.
As for his view of the Patriots’ season, he summed it up this way: “We’ve been in a lot of these games. We make one more play against Seattle [in Week 2], one more inch more versus the Dolphins [in Week 5] and we’re sitting different right now. Obviously, not the way we envisioned the season as a team. Yeah, it’s just been a tough year.”
Brissett has been credited by Maye for helping guide him behind the scenes. They have lockers next to each other and are often seen talking during the time reporters are present.
“That’s my guy, man. I’ve never let work get in the way of people. Those are two different things and that’s what I told him when we started off,” Brissett said. “My feelings have only gotten better for him. Been able to gain a relationship and now we’re tied in for a while. I’m excited for his career, and obviously being a part of that now, and excited to see where that goes for him.”
In uplifting Maye, Brissett has at times had to submerge his own feelings.
“It’s been a tough year for that, as far as emotional, and just dealing with everything, trying to put on a good face every day,” he said. “But it’s not my first time. Like I said, the way I played, and the way I go about my business, I’m hopeful for better days ahead, for sure. That’s what I work towards and I look forward towards.”
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Why Spears is taking the Cardinals in Week 15
Marcus Spears explains why he is taking the Cardinals in their Week 15 matchup vs. the Patriots.
2. Early bolt? The NFL is strongly considering having the Patriots’ Week 17 home game against the Chargers played Saturday afternoon, according to league sources. A final decision is expected by Monday.
The league will choose three of five matchups — Chargers-Patriots; Broncos-Bengals; Cardinals-Rams; Colts-Giants and Falcons-Commanders — to air on NFL Network that day. The NFL loves to promote its young quarterback stars and, if the game is moved to Saturday, it would be a chance to expose Maye to a nationally televised audience for the first time.
3. Gonzo’s case: Patriots cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino answered bluntly when asked what case he would make for Christian Gonzalez as a Pro Bowler.
“Watch the tape,” he said.
Saying it wasn’t meant as a knock to others, Pellegrino added: “I don’t see many guys in the NFL following No. 1’s [receivers] around, being in single coverage for most of the game.”
Gonzalez, who has played 98% of the defensive snaps, hasn’t cracked the top 10 in fan voting.
4. Maye’s even keel: JerodMayo said he’s attempted to avoid “getting too high and too low” over his first season as head coach, and he’s noticed Maye taking a similar approach. It’s among the areas in which the 22-year-old Maye has belied his age.
“It’s a good thing and hopefully that continues to permeate throughout the rest of the group,” Mayo said. “If you ride that roller coaster, it turns into a toxic environment.”
Marcus Jones, with a league-leading 15.2-yard average on punt returns, says he loves watching old highlights of pro football Hall of Famer Devin Hester.
“A lot of people don’t know but it’s all about setting up blocks – not for the first guy in front of you, but down the line.” pic.twitter.com/Z9fAoTAdUK
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) December 14, 2024
5. Jones’ motivation: Marcus Jones leads the NFL with a 15.2-yard punt return average and he acknowledged that is added motivation for him over the final four games of the season to finish No. 1. He said his mindset is to score touchdowns, which explains, in part, why he’s only called for eight fair catches.
“I feel as though it helps that I play defense; I’m not scared to get hit, so I’m cool taking those gambles,” he said.
6. Slye message?: The Patriots’ signing of John Parker Romo to the practice squad last week gives the team a chance to lighten Joey Slye‘s workload in colder practices, according to special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer, in addition to an extended evaluation of another player at the position.
While Springer didn’t go there, it also could be a message to Slye after he missed a 25-yard field goal in the team’s last game and his reaction, in the direction of holder Bryce Baringer, seemed somewhat icy.
Of the miss, Springer said: “I always look at it piece by piece, but it’s not an easy position and sometimes you think it’s a chip shot and you end up missing by a bad approach or a lack of focus. Slye is a professional. To get back and rolling, and look at the film the next day and say, ‘What did I do wrong? When the next situation comes, I need to be locked and loaded.'”
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7. Bolden’s time: The Patriots plan to rotate 2023 seventh-round pick Isaiah Bolden at cornerback opposite Gonzalez for a second straight game, having the Jackson State alum split time with veteran Jonathan Jones and fellow 2023 seventh-rounder Alex Austin.
Bolden told a behind-the-scenes story in the locker room late last week, relaying that he was on the phone with another team when the Patriots selected him 245th overall, so he was initially surprised to land in New England, where he spent his rookie season on injured reserve (concussion).
The Patriots are giving him an extended audition late this season to see if his combination of size (6-foot-2, 210 pounds), speed (4.31 in the 40) and versatility flash.
8. Strange story: Cole Strange said he’s been working at center in practice since being designated to return from injured reserve (knee) on Nov. 20, and now that the 2022 first-round pick has officially been added to the 53-man roster, the next question is when he could see game action.
Ben Brown has been entrenched as the starter and there were no signs that was changing this week. But Strange will soon be integrated into the mix.
“I think we need to see him at some point play,” offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said.
Drake Maye to Ja’Lynn Polk: Patriots would like to see this connection over the final four games. pic.twitter.com/fG96kmPNZQ
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) December 13, 2024
9. They said it: “The transition from the college game to the pro game is never easy for any rookie. That’s part of it; the rookie wall. Not having success early, some drops early, kind of set him back a little bit mentally. All lessons for him to fight through and keep pushing. Like I said last week, I think he’s going to be a very good player for us. He just has to continue to work.” — Van Pelt, on wide receiver Polk, a 2024 second-round pick (No. 37 overall)
10. Did you know?: Maye enters Sunday’s game having thrown an interception in each of the past five games, and a sixth consecutive game with a pick would be the longest streak within a season by a Patriots quarterback since Drew Bledsoe had a six-game streak in 1999.
