Who Should Start? Cases For, Against Each Patriots Quarterback

The Patriots came out of their Week 10 loss in Germany with a major question at quarterback.

Nearly two weeks later, that question remained unanswered.

As of Saturday morning, it still was unclear who would start behind center for New England’s Week 12 matchup with the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Head coach Bill Belichick refused to reveal that information, saying only that he told Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe, Will Grier and Malik Cunningham all to be “ready to play.”

Players, including Zappe, said they didn’t know what Belichick planned to do at the position. The closest thing to confirmation came from Jones, who said Wednesday that he “hope(d)” he would start.

“That’s the plan, I think,” the Patriots incumbent said.

Jones keeping his starting job is the most likely scenario. But with questions still swirling, here are the cases for and against each of the team’s four signal-callers getting the nod against New York:

Mac Jones
Case for: The Patriots really don’t have any better options. If they did, Jones likely would have lost his job weeks ago. Benching him now would be accepting a likely downgrade just for the sake of a change. It’s hard to imagine any of the other three QBs faring better behind the same inconsistent offensive line and with the same meager collection of pass-catchers.

Jones also has played legitimately well at times this season, though those instances have been infrequent of late. He guided the Patriots into the red zone on all three of his second-half possessions against the Colts, and if he hadn’t severely underthrown Mike Gesicki on his final pass, his final stat line would have looked something like: 16-for-20, 185 yards, one touchdown, no turnovers. Not spectacular, but solid enough.

Case against: Jones did badly miss Gesicki, resulting in the ugliest and costliest of his dozen giveaways this season. He also failed in his previous two red-zone visits, missing a third-down read that got him reamed out by Bill O’Brien and nearly throwing another interception in the end zone. The pick he did throw was emblematic of the same critical mistakes he’s been making since early October: getting spooked at the first sign of pressure and throwing off his back foot.

That those issues, which have hounded Jones since the Cowboys game in Week 4, have not been remedied is a major problem. He just looks broken at this point, and a report last week suggested he’s lost the “vast majority” of the locker room.

Bailey Zappe
Case for: Zappe has been the QB2 in all but one game so far this season, so he’d be the most logical next man up if Jones was permanently benched. The 2022 fourth-round draft pick enjoyed surprise success as a rookie, winning both of his starts and winning over a large portion of the fanbase in the process. Zappe completed 70.7% of his passes and posted a 100.9 passer rating in 2022.

Case against: Year 2 hasn’t gone nearly as well for Zappe. The transition from Matt Patricia’s offense to Bill O’Brien’s was rough for the Western Kentucky product, and he was released during final roster cuts. Zappe was back on the 53-man roster a week later, but he struggled in all three of his relief appearances, completing just 40% of his passes. His game-ending interception against the Colts was just as ugly as Jones’ INT. Simply put: Jones has not been good this season, but Zappe’s been worse.

Will Grier
Case for: Grier would be the “just change things up” candidate. The 28-year-old has very little regular-season NFL experience, but he’s been in the league for a while and played well in his most recent opportunity, going 29-for-35 for 305 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions for Dallas in the final week of the preseason.

The Patriots seemingly know what they have in Jones and Zappe at this point. Grier, who saw an uptick in first-team reps last week, is more of an unknown, which gives him some intrigue. Devin McCourty also raised eyebrows this week when the predicted Grier would start against the Giants.

Case against: Grier has been with the Patriots since late September, and he has yet to leapfrog Zappe on the depth chart. He’s been the emergency third QB in all but one game since signing — and fourth string in the lone exception. And though he looked good against backups in his final preseason game as a Cowboy, which came after the team traded for Trey Lance, Grier has not taken a regular-season snap since his rookie year in 2019.

The vast majority of Grier’s Patriots practice reps have come on the scout team, according to Belichick, who said his first-team looks came while the Patriots were giving their backups additional playing time during the bye week.

Malik Cunningham
Case for: Jones, Zappe and Grier all are variations of the same pocket passer archetype. Cunningham is different. The undrafted rookie is an undersized, highly athletic dual-threat QB, offering far more mobility than any of his three position mates. He showed in his preseason NFL debut how dangerous he can be as a rusher, albeit against third-string defenders. Having a QB who can evade pressure and make plays with his legs could help offset some of the offensive line issues that have plagued New England this season.

The Patriots had enough trust in Cunningham to make him Jones’ primary backup in their Week 6 loss to Las Vegas, though that proved to be just a one-game experiment. And since they’re now far out of playoff contention, why not see what the exciting 25-year-old can do in an expanded role?

Case against: The Patriots already have cut Cunningham twice this season, and he isn’t even a full-time quarterback. Offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien has referred to him as a wide receiver multiple times in recent weeks, and Cunningham told the Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed that he hasn’t taken practice reps at QB since before the Raiders game. He played just six offensive snaps in that game and did not attempt a pass or rush.

Giving Cunningham some work in a Taysom Hill-esque situational role could be a way to add some juice and playmaking ability to New England’s stagnant offense. But based on all we’ve seen and heard, he’s nowhere near ready to be an NFL starter.