The New England Patriots have to be very careful with how threy utlise quarterback Bailey Zappe this weekend, as it could cost them in the long run, Bart Scott has claimed. 

Mac Jones took on what is arguably the most poisoned of poisoned chalices in all of football in 2021, as he was tasked in taking over from Tom Brady as the quarterback of the New England Patriots. When you have to step into the footsteps of someone who was the face of the NFL and helped the franchise go from zero Super Bowls to the joint-most with six, and win 3 league MVPs along the way, it was going to take a lot to fill those shoes. 

Now he did have the slightly added benefit of having Cam Newton take over the role for a year between Brady’s departure and his arrival so he didn’t immediately have to step into Brady’s shadow and there was some time to allow things to die down somewhat, but after everything that Brady did, that shadow is going to be there for a long time.

But there can be no doubt that he has taken the job with both hands and made a big impression early on in his tenure, with his first season yielding 3,801 yards, completing 67.6% of his passes and throwing for 22 touchdowns against 13 interceptions.

Things though have not gone well for the Patriots in 2022, with chaos in the offensive room due to a lack of an established, permanent offensive coordinator, their offense has somewhat stumbled, playing a large part in why they are currently sat with a 1-3 record.

To make things worse, Jones looks set to miss this weekend’s game against the Detroit Lions with an ankle injury, which combined with backup quarterback Brian Hoyer being out with concussion, means that the team will have to lean on rookie Bailey Zappe to take on the starting role.

New England Patriots have to be protective of Bailey Zappe

Bart Scott, as part of a discussion on ESPN’s Get Up (starting at 3:47) about the situation, claimed that the Patriots needed to be careful with Zappe, because if he plays well on Sunday, how they manage him after that could wind up backfiring on them if things didn’t play out right:

Here’s the business part of it… if [Brian] Hoyer comes back, and they put Zappe on the practice squad, people will snatch him up quickly, so now you have to protect him, because everybody knows he has to be on the active roster.

Obviously a lot of this is hypothetical and will rely on how the game goes on Sunday. For instance if he stinks, then they don’t need to worry about other people poaching him. But the threat is going to be there if he does, so as well as this weekend causing problems for the Patriots in terms of their record, it might also give them problems when it comes to personnel moving forward.