Jerod Mayo confirms Drake Maye will play in Patriots' preseason opener

New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo confirmed on Tuesday that rookie quarterback Drake Maye is going to play in the team’s preseason opener on Thursday.

It will be the first live action that the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft will see in his career. That also makes it the first time that Patriots fans are going to see the presumed future of the franchise at the quarterback position.

“Drake will play,” Jerod Mayo said. “Drake will play and when he gets in the game, we’ll talk about that, but he will play in the game.”

Jerod Mayo also noted that Drake Maye isn’t the only player who’s going to be suiting up. Instead, as Mayo looks to rebuild the franchise, he’s going to make sure everyone who is healthy enough to play gets in the game.

“Everyone who is healthy enough to play in the game will play in the game,” Mayo laughed. “That’s more than you’ve ever gotten before.”

Mayo was joking about previous New England head coach Bill Belichick and how he interacted with media members. However, when he was asked about how much Drake Maye would play in the game he became more vague like Belichick.

“Not sure,” Mayo said.

The Patriots currently have four quarterbacks on the roster. There are the rookies, Drake Maye and Joe Milton. Then there is the veteran Jacoby Brissett and then Bailey Zappe returns for his third season in New England. As of now, all three are expected to play.

“As of today, that’s the plan,” Mayo said. “To have all those guys out there playing. Once again it goes back to competing. So, yesterday, you guys saw the live tackling period and things like that, that I think is very important and you don’t want the first time these guys get hit or hit someone else to be in the preseason game. So, we’ve got to see what these guys can do with live action.”

Despite investing the third overall pick in Drake Maye, New England brought Jacoby Brissett in for a reason. He’s expected to start, at least to open the regular season, and the plan is for him to start on Thursday in the preseason as well.

“That’s the plan,” Mayo confirmed. “Once again, look, I’m telling you guys this today. It could change as the week continues to progress but that is the plan.”

The New England Patriots open the preseason at home against the Carolina Panthers. It’s one of three preseason games against NFC opponents.