New year, same story for Bill Belichick and the Patriots’ quarterback situation.
At Monday’s annual league meeting, the six-time Super Bowl champ remained noncommittal on whether Mac Jones or second-year backup Bailey Zappe will be New England’s starter in 2023.
Telling reporters in Phoenix, “Everybody will get a chance to play, and we’ll play the best players.”
“We’ll play the best players.”
As he has for months, Bill Belichick again declined to back Mac Jones as the Patriots’ starting QB. https://t.co/OJ59P9P5Ix
— NESN (@NESN) March 27, 2023
Adding, that approach applies to everyone at every position.
“Everybody will get a chance to play,” Belichick repeated. “Everybody that’s on our roster, if they earn the opportunity to play based on what they do in practice and all that, then they’ll get an opportunity to play. Certainly, veteran players that have been on the team before, if they’re still on the team, they’ll all get an opportunity to play.”
The Patriots re-hired former offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, whose time at Alabama briefly overlapped with Jones.
Belichick was also asked about whether he believes that could help Jones return to his Pro Bowl rookie form. To which the coach replied, “Bill’s a good coach. I think he’ll help any position.”