Patriots beat writer updates Jacoby Brissett, Drake Maye prediction

When the New England Patriots recently lost center David Andrews to a "significant shoulder injury," many wondered if it would affect the team's plan regarding rookie quarterback Drake Maye.

Patriots beat writer Chris Mason of MassLive addressed that topic for a mailbag published on Thursday.

"The longer this season goes on, the later I think we’ll see Maye," Mason explained. "...The current offensive situation just isn’t conducive to growing a rookie quarterback. If the offensive line can’t hold a block, how is Maye going to develop? He already had enough helter-skelter at North Carolina."

Mason added that he believes Maye won't make his first start before New England plays at the Arizona Cardinals in Week 15 coming off the Patriots' bye assuming Brissett stays healthy.

Brissett took 11 sacks over New England's past two games and, according to Mason, "was a significant part of the problem" during the club's 30-13 loss at the San Francisco 49ers this past Sunday. The 1-3 Patriots should be more competitive while hosting a 1-3 Miami Dolphins team that has problems of its own this Sunday, but pockets of impatient New England fans will nevertheless feel that Mayo is simply delaying the inevitable.

Per ESPN stats, the Patriots began Thursday ranked last in the league with an average of 112.3 passing yards per contest and 31st with an average of 13.0 points scored per game. Such awful play from an offense could cause even the most motivated of players to check out on a season and, to steal a phrase recently used by Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce, begin making "business decisions" during games.

The Patriots likely aren't winning much of note between now and Week 18 regardless of the number of starts Maye makes before his first full NFL offseason begins. If, however, New England endures another two blowout defeats before the end of October, Maye could find himself tasked with learning about life in the NFL as a QB1 and with preventing teammates from quitting on a lost campaign.