You might well have though that the purpose of having Jacoby Brissett on hand with the Patriots was simply to serve as a mentor for the Patriots’ new quarterback project, No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye. While that is potentially part of Brissett’s job description, the fact is, he is coming into training camp with New England to win the starting job.

At the very least, he is expecting an open competition, one that should be good both for him and for Maye.

“That’s all out of my control, so I don’t really worry about that. I’m excited to have him on the team, and the other guys as well that we drafted and picked up. I think it’s going to be good,” Brissett said this week, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.

“Competition brings out the best in all of us, so I’m excited about that part.”

Brissett comes to New England in an interesting position. He is a veteran who was originally drafted by the team, as a third-round pick back in 2016, and has since earned a reputation as one of the better backup quarterbacks in the NFL, a guy who takes a professional approach in supporting the starter while being ready to step in and produce if needed.

In this case, though, Brissett has an eye on competing for the Patriots starting job, with Maye his chief competition.

Patriots Vowing an Open QB Competition

Though the Patriots and coach Jerod Mayo are saying all the right things—that the quarterback’s role will be given to the player who wins the job—the organization’s preference is, clearly, to have Maye be the QB1 from the get-go. The Pats resisted quality trade offers, including one of three first-rounders from Minnesota, to keep the third pick and pick Maye.

When the season starts, though, Maye will only be 22 years old, perhaps too young to take the reins immediately. The Pats hope to be more competitive than they were last season, when they were 4-13, but they’re not expected to be a playoff team. They can afford to have some patience with Maye.

Brissett knows that, if he does beat out Maye for the starting role, it will be a temporary gig, no longer than a season. In that case, Brissett would still be expected to mentor the Pats youngster.

“I’m a little bit familiar with him, and obviously talking to each other now that we are on the same team. So I’m sure that relationship will grow,” Brissett said.

Jacoby Brissett Has Played in Alex Van Pelt’s Offense

Brissett starting games for the Patriots would not be ideal, but at $8 million for this season, he is a bargain bridge quarterback while Maye gets his feet wet.

In eight NFL seasons, Brissett has started only 48 games, including two during an injury-riddled 2016 season with the Patriots. Brissett helped win one game coming on in relief of Jimmy Garoppolo, then went 1-1 in his two starts for the Pats that year. Since then, he has had two seasons, in Indianapolis, in which he came in as the starter, and one (in Cleveland in 2022) in which he started the bulk of the games because of injury.

One reason he is back with the Patriots is not so much his familiarity with the organization (he was with the Pats only one season) but his familiarity with new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, with whom he worked in Cleveland.

Brissett played well for the Browns. He is up for doing the same in New England if he wins the Patriots job. “Of course. I wouldn’t have came if I didn’t,” Brissett said.