4 Patriots Unlikely to Return in 2025 After Poor Start to Season

1. Jacoby Brissett

Jacoby Brissett is in a tough spot, no one is denying that. Brissett has been asked to serve as a placeholder quarterback and mentor third-overall pick Drake Maye until the rookie is ready to play. He has been asked to do so behind a dismal offensive line with a receiver group lacking a true WR1 and an offensive coordinator in Alex Van Pelt who very well might be in over his head.

Brissett was initially drafted by New England in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft and has made stops with the Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, and Washington Commanders before reuniting with the Patriots on a one-year, $8 million deal in March.

When Brissett was signed, New England's quarterback development plan seemed quite obvious: the team would select a quarterback, sit them for a season behind the veteran Brissett, and allow their rookie signal-caller to develop behind the scenes.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that plan, but now the Patriots brass must face the music following a poor start by Brissett to the season and increasingly louder calls by the fanbase to start Maye under center. Comments by head coach Jerod Mayo that Maye "outplayed" Brissett in the preseason have done little to quell the faction of Pats fans clamoring for Maye.

Through four games in 2024, Brissett is only averaging 134 passing yards per game as the Patriots rank dead-last in the league in passing yards this season. The veteran also threw a particularly ugly pick-six on Sunday in a 30-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Brissett's play has been so disappointing that there have even been suggestions that the Patriots scoop up a veteran such as Russell Wilson to take over while not asking Maye to step into a starting role quite yet.

When there are questions about your job security on a week-to-week basis, that doesn't bode well for the long-term outlook of your future with a team. Considering that Brissett will be a free agent at the conclusion of the season and it may have been the plan to part ways after only a season after New England selected Maye, it would be a shocking turn of events to see him back in a Patriots uniform in 2025.

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