Former Patriots safety says some teammates wanted Bailey Zappe to play over Mac Jones in 2022

Recently retired safety Devin McCourty revealed some news during an appearance on "The Greg Hill Show" which airs on Boston-area sports radio station WEEI. 

Per Dakota Randall of NESN, McCourty suggested that some New England Patriots players wanted rookie Bailey Zappe to remain the club's starting quarterback over Mac Jones this past fall. Zappe temporarily filled in while Jones was sidelined with a reported high-ankle sprain. 

"I think player-wise there was enough trust that we’re going to put the best guy out there," McCourty explained. "But the struggles on offense, I think there were some guys in the locker room that were like, 'Let’s go with Zappe.' Or, 'No, Mac looked good today.' It was just a back-and-forth, which to me, spoke more about what we had on offense than the quarterback. We never were solidified as an offensive group that guys had full confidence in anything we were doing. There was never true hope."

For a piece published on Oct. 20, NFL Media's Mike Giardi noted that New England players thought at that time there was "another level" the offense could reach and that Jones was "the guy that can get them there." While a healthy Jones ultimately returned to the top of the depth chart for good, he was unable to guide the Patriots to a playoff berth. New England ended the season with an overall record of 8-9.

According to ESPN stats, Jones finished this past regular season 28th out of 31 eligible players with a woeful adjusted QBR of 36.2. Across 14 games, the 2021 first-round draft pick tossed 14 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. 

To compare, Zappe completed 70.7% of his 92 pass attempts for 781 yards with five touchdowns, three interceptions and a 34.4 total QBR. 

Since the end of the season, it's been reported that Jones "has universal support in the locker room" and that team owner Robert Kraft will not consider trading the 24-year-old this spring or summer. However, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick didn't commit to keeping Jones his QB1 through this offseason back in January. 

While some have linked the Patriots with Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson, there's currently no indication New England would sacrifice two first-round draft picks and pay Jackson over $200M in fully-guaranteed salary that he reportedly wants.