Zappe has had an uneven two years in New England, though the Western Kentucky product hasn’t seemed utterly helpless in his handful of begins. Throughout his rookie season, he sparked a quick QB controversy after guiding New England’s woeful offense to a pair of victories. Nevertheless, Zappe slid again down the depth chart when Mac Jones returned from damage, and the Patriots had been anticipated to proceed with that very same hierarchy for the 2023 marketing campaign.
Zappe ended up struggling underneath new offensive coordinator Invoice O’Brien, resulting in him being a shock reduce in direction of the top of the preseason. The second-year QB shortly landed on New England’s observe squad, and he was signed again to the lively roster in early September. Nonetheless, the roster machinations proved that the Patriots had been keen to let the participant stroll for nothing, and the obvious lack of curiosity from opposing squads proved there wasn’t an entire lot of league-wide intrigue within the signal-caller.
The backup QB managed to bounce again and (considerably) rehabilitate his picture in the course of the 2023 marketing campaign. With Jones and the Patriots offense persevering with to wrestle, Zappe ended up garnering six begins in New England. His numbers weren’t fairly (59.9 completion proportion, 2.8 landing proportion, 4.2 interception proportion), however he was notably underneath middle for 2 of the workforce’s 4 wins. Whereas no one is complicated Zappe with a beginning quarterback, the participant at the very least proved that he wouldn’t compromise his workforce’s possibilities if inserted into the lineup.
With the Patriots navigating a post-Invoice Belichick period this offseason, the group determined to utterly revamp their QB room. The workforce used the third-overall choose on Drake Maye, pairing the rookie with veteran acquisition (and outdated buddy) Jacoby Brissett. The group additionally used a sixth-round choice on Joe Milton III, a sequence of strikes that appeared to push Zappe off the roster. Reports from earlier this offseason indicated that the Patriots needed to resolve their QB jam as shortly as probably, permitting the teaching employees to higher consider their three sure-thing QBs. That might have led to a speedy reduce for Zappe, however the QB remains to be sticking across the roster.
Whereas the Patriots may declare that Zappe is competing with Milton for the QB3 position, there’s little probability the rebuilding squad will desire the third-year participant to the rookie. So it appears extra possible that the group is holding on to Zappe till a QB-needy workforce comes knocking. Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald indicated as much last month, noting {that a} Zappe commerce stays a risk for the group. Whereas groups didn’t present curiosity in Zappe final yr, Callahan believes there may very well be a marketplace for the participant this offseason, particularly as groups face accidents in the course of the preseason.
Callahan means that the Patriots may fetch a late-round choose in return for Zappe, or the entrance workplace may connect a choose to the QB for a greater return. Contemplating the participant’s monitor file, Zappe would most likely be extra interesting to groups that lose key backups vs. those who lose a beginning QB. Zappe’s most-recent take care of the Patriots retains him underneath contract by way of the 2024 marketing campaign on an easily-manageable $985K cap hit.
It looks as if a foregone conclusion that Bailey Zappe received’t be sticking round New England for the 2024 marketing campaign. Nevertheless, it stays to be seen if the entrance workplace will have the ability to garner a return for the approaching third-year QB.
