Bill Belichick explains Matt Corral's strange absence

There’s still a mystery around why Matt Corral, the Patriots’ third-string quarterback, left the team before the season opener.

He literally just left, skipping Friday’s practice. The Patriots placed Corral, the former Ole Miss star, on the inactive list with the rarely used designation of “exempt/left squad.”

Seeking more information, reporters asked coach Bill Belichick about Corral during a Monday availability. And Belichick, who isn’t known for providing a ton of details, was brief with his explanation.

“He’s on exempt status. I don’t have any comment on it. That’s a personal matter,” Belichick told reporters.

However, Belichick did say that the Patriots have been in touch with Matt Corral. So the quarterback isn’t totally MIA.

Henry McKenna, who covers the Patriots for Fox Sports, offered more details.

“He just left the team,” McKenna’s source told him. “Let’s just make sure he’s OK. I don’t know if it’s mental health. I just know he kind of flaked out. … Let’s be careful this guy doesn’t get thrown to the wolves.”

With QB Matt Corral, the #Patriots weren't sure what happened on Friday. Corral simply wasn't there for practice, per a team source.

"He just left the team," the source said. "Let's just make sure he's OK. I don't know if it's mental health. I just know he kind of flaked out.…

— Henry McKenna (@henrycmckenna) September 10, 2023

The designation means Matt Corral can return to the Patriots at any time. However, he can’t sign with another team while he’s still on the exempt list.

Corral hadn’t spent much time in Foxborough with the Patriots. The Panthers waived him, Aug. 29, as part of the NFL-mandated roster cut to 53 players. Carolina selected him in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. But Corral never played a down in the regular season because of a foot injury. The Panthers made it clear that Corral wasn’t their future started when they traded up to draft Bryce Young with the first pick of this year’s draft.

But Corral proved intriguing to Belichick. The quarterback’s issues with depression possibly caused Corral to slip in last year’s draft, since some analysts had him with a first-round grade. Corral has spoken about dealing with depression while he was at Ole Miss.

In a 2022 interview with Yahoo, Corral said, “I was still training, and it just felt like I was just going through the motions. It just felt like I was being stagnant. There was no purpose as to what I was doing.”

Albert Breer, who covers the NFL for Sports Illustrated, said that Belichick placed Corral on the exempt list out of “fairness for everything Matt Corral has gone through over the last six or seven years. Bill Belichick chose not to release him so they can get more information on where he’s at and how he’s doing.”

Back on Aug. 29, Belichick cut two quarterbacks, leaving him with only Mac Jones on the roster. He signed Corral. Once Bailey Zappe and Malik Cunningham cleared waivers, he added them to the Patriots practice squad. When Corral left, Belichick elevated Zappe to the roster. Zappe started and won two games for New England last season.