Bailey Zappe Opens Up About Embarrassing Patriots Demotion

The New England Patriots have jerked Bailey Zappe around so much recently, the poor kid must have whiplash.

This time last year, Zappe was winning games for the Patriots as their starting quarterback in Mac Jones' absence. Now he's their third-string QB grinding it out on the practice squad.

Zappe opened up about his recent struggles and situation, and for his part, he's at least trying to remain optimistic.

Zappe is outwardly maintaining a positive outlook and still saying all the right things about being a good teammate and trying to improve. Internally, however, he must be a little disappointed.

Zappe shined in his first taste of NFL action last year when Jones suffered an ankle injury, completing over 70% of his passes with a 5:3 TD/INT ratio and winning both of his starts. While he eventually took a backseat when Jones returned, his NFL future appeared bright and he was considered a legitimate threat to Jones' starting job in 2023.

Unfortunately, the last few months have been brutal for Zappe. He struggled to learn new OC Bill O'Brien's offense, which is much more complex than the one Matt Patricia and Joe Judge ran last year. He played poorly during preseason and was shockingly cut from the team in late August, ending up on the practice squad.

Zappe's preseason struggles carried over into the regular season as well, as he played poorly in relief of Jones. He's only completed 7-of-18 passes so far (38.9%), but at least he hasn't turned the ball over, which is more than Jones can say.

The 24-year-old lost his backup role in Week 6, however, as rookie QB Malik Cunningham was activated from the practice squad to replace Zappe as QB2. Zappe is now the emergency third quarterback, which means he'll only play if Jones and Cunningham both get hurt or ejected.

It's been a tough fall from grace for Zappe, who was briefly a fan favorite in New England. The same issues that have plagued Jones (poor offensive line, mediocre receivers, etc.) have also affected him, and his confidence may have been shattered by his surprising cut. It also doesn't help that his only two appearances this season came against two of the best defenses in the NFL (Dallas and New Orleans).

The Patriots have broken Jones, and now it seems that they've broken Zappe as well. Hopefully he gets another shot somewhere else, because he deserves better than this.

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