The New England Patriots 2023 campaign has taken a strange turn over the past few weeks, as they have won two of their past three games, and remained competitive in a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. While they are already eliminated from playoff contention, it's been interesting to see the Patriots suddenly turn things around in what has been an awful season to this point.
The common denominator in this sudden change is Bailey Zappe. After benching Mac Jones in favor of Zappe for good ahead of their Week 13 contest against the Los Angeles Chargers, Zappe had led the Pats to a 2-2 record, and while he's not lighting up the stat sheet, he's leading his team to wins, which is something Jones could not do this season.
Zappe's success under center for New England has been somewhat confusing, but you can't ignore what he's doing with a severely depleted offense and a banged up defense. While it may seem like a foolish decision for some folks, it's fair to wonder whether or not Zappe deserves a real shot to run the offense in 2024.
What should the Patriots do with Bailey Zappe moving forward?
For the past few months, the Patriots season has become a quest to see how good of a first-round draft pick they can get in the 2024 NFL Draft. With Jones being a complete mess under center, New England is going to find a new quarterback one way or another this offseason, with the draft seeming like the most logical route to accomplish that goal.
Instead, Zappe's winning has actually hurt the Patriots draft positioning, as they went from having the second overall pick in the draft to the fourth with their win over the Denver Broncos in Week 16. That would seemingly put them out of range to grab either USC's Caleb Williams or North Carolina's Drake Maye, who are widely expected to be the top two players off the board.
New England could still end up with a top two draft pick, but their odds of doing so have decreased, making their future quarterback plans murky. For much of the season, the expectation was that they would simply land either Williams or Maye, but they suddenly may not be in position to do that, which creates a big conundrum for the front office moving forward.
That makes Zappe's play for the Pats something worth paying attention to. Again, he's not exactly carving opposing teams up, but his numbers have been pretty solid for New England when he's been starting. Zappe had 240 yards and three touchdowns in their win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, and 256 yards and two scores against the Broncos, with both of these defenses being among the better units in the NFL.
This also goes without saying that Zappe has been dealt the tough hand of taking over for Jones midway through the season, while also inheriting an offense that is devoid of talent. Just last week against Denver, Zappe was without JuJu Smith-Schuster, Hunter Henry, and Rhamondre Stevenson, meaning his top targets in the passing game were Demario Douglas and DeVante Parker, which isn't exactly a dynamic duo.
Against all odds, Zappe has led the Patriots to a pair of hard-fought wins, and in similar close contests, they were losing with Jones under center. Granted, the Steelers and Broncos did a lot to help New England win these games, but the point stands. If Zappe is doing this with a decimated offense, what could he do with a full offseason of preparation and a handful of new targets to throw to?
If New England doesn't land a quarterback in the draft, they could opt to look at Ohio State's star wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., although he too could be off the board if the Pats are drafting with the fourth overall pick. Harrison looks like a shoe-in star, and he could immediately give the Patriots a top receiving option they haven't had since Julian Edelman retired.
The Pats could also aim for LSU's Jayden Daniels or Michigan's J.J. McCarthy as a pair of lower first-round quarterback picks that they could trade down for and then have sit behind Zappe for a year. If Zappe flourishes, you have a great problem on your hands, but if not, you can easily move on from him and hand the starting gig over to one of these guys.
While it may seem like Zappe's winning has hurt New England, it has increased the number of options they have at their disposal, which may not be the worst thing in the world. Starting Zappe in 2024 is one of those options, and while there are obviously better plans worth exploring, it's not the worst backup plan to have, and he will continue to make his case over the final two games of the 2023 campaign.
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