Bill Simmons skewers "stupid a*s" Patriots for Drake Maye's mismanagement - "Dumbest, most incompetent front office"
Apart from Robert Saleh's firing, Drake Maye becoming the official starter for the New England Patriots has been the biggest news of the week. The rookie quarterback, the third-overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, will finally get to start after Jacoby Brissett's awful start to the year.
But the timing for the decision is odd. Maye could've been the starter in Week 5 against the struggling Miami Dolphins, but Jerod Mayo decided to play Brissett and keep the rookie out. Now, in Week 6, against one of the best defenses in the league, he decided to put the UNC alumni on the field against a strong pass defense.
The curious idea was also noted by Bill Simmons, who called the Patriots management a bunch of names following the decision:
"I was feeling all good about the fact that I'm not a Jets fan, Simmons said. "And then my stupid ass team, who didn't start Drake Maye last week against the Dolphins who suck... it would have been the perfect spot to play him, even if the offensive line's terrible, at least you're getting his feet wet against, you know, probably the other worst team in the league, except for Carolina."
Simmons continued:
"You wait a week, oh, it turns out Jacoby Brissett is still terrible. And then a week later, guess what they do. They start Drake Maye against Houston's defense, which is probably top five or six scariest defense, and they can really rush the passer, and they're just putting this guy now in a terrible position, because this is the dumbest, most incompetent ownership/Front Office group we've had since Victor Kiam when I was in college."
Why has Drake Maye waited until Week 6 to start?
By all metrics, the New England Patriots have one of the worst offensive lines in the league. The idea behind keeping the rookie safe on the bench as they developed better protection looked fine at first, but has completely backfired since Week 2.
Jacoby Brissett's subpar performance had plenty of fans crying for a quarterback change, as the veteran was unable to do anything with the offense. The idea is that Maye will provide a spark, even if the team around him isn't as good as Caleb Williams has in Chicago or Jayden Daniels has in Washington.