The New England Patriots made a surprising move on cutdown day back in August, deciding to waive quarterback Bailey Zappe.
But now, a few months later, Zappe is the starting quarterback.
So it seems he made the right decision. And during an appearance on WEEI’s Jones and Mego show Monday afternoon, Zappe confirmed that other teams were interested after he was waived, but he also spoke about why he chose to stay.
“I felt like for me, my best opportunity was to learn from Coach Belichick, to learn from Coach (Bill O’Brien), and I felt like that was the best fit for my career: To stay here,” Zappe said. “Have the opportunity to play. Have the opportunity to stay with these guys that I’ve built relationships with. And I think the main thing was to just learn from the coaches that we have here. I think that was the best fit for my career and for the future — for whatever happens for me.”
Tom Pelissero was the one to break the news that Zappe was re-signing with the Patriots practice squad, also adding that seven teams made offers to the young quarterback.
And as he said, a large part of that decision was the Patriots decision to hire O'Brien as the offensive coordinator.
“Our relationship has grown a lot over these last few months,” Zappe said. “I really like getting coached by him. He coaches hard and I like being coached. So he does a phenomenal job with that.”
Zappe's appearance on WEEI this week seems to imply that Zappe will once again be the starting quarterback as the Patriots travel to face off against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football.
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