Patriots Will ‘Trick’ a Team Into Trading For Their Surprising Rookie

The New England Patriots have a luxury that most teams in the NFL don’t have on their roster. They have two young quarterbacks in second-year-pro Mac Jones and rookie signal-caller Bailey Zappe. This sort of luxury happens at other positions in the sport but rarely at quarterback, putting Bill Belichick in a potentially interesting situation. Should they consider trading one of them?

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Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe Have Trade Value

Jones was the runner-up for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2021 behind the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase. While Jones missed the last two-plus games with a high ankle sprain, Zappe has filled in admirably.

He helped lead the team on a comeback in Week 4 against the Green Bay Packers after Brian Hoyer initially started the game but went out with a concussion. The Patriots fell short in overtime, but Zappe acquitted himself well.

Zappe then helped command the offense on its current two-game win streak heading into the Monday night matchup with the Chicago Bears. While all indications seem to point to the Patriots going back to Jones against the Bears, though he might be just short of 100 percent, Zappe’s short time as a starter has raised his potential trade value if the Patriots are looking to cash in on his brief run of success at the trade deadline or during the offseason.

There is something to like about both players if you’re a team searching for a young quarterback to build around.

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Will the Patriots ‘Trick’ a Team Into Trading For Zappe?

Pro Football Focus’ Doug Kyed wrote about the possibility of the Patriots trading Zappe. Kyed referenced a quote from an NFL executive who said:

“I think they trick someone into a draft pick for him [Zappe],” the executive from an unnamed AFC team said. “I think he’s smart, consistent and runs the offense well. He’s not a real guy, in my opinion.”

Not being a “real guy” means he’s not a legitimate franchise quarterback. Zappe was taken in the fourth round out of Western Kentucky after putting up video game numbers in 2021. When you watch Zappe play, at least in this short sample size, he looks like a young, heady quarterback with a live arm, good leadership skills, slightly above-average escapability, and some real moxie.

Those are all attractive traits for a quarterback, even for one just a shade over 6-feet tall.

Zappe’s numbers have been better than Jones’ as well. Jones threw just two touchdown passes to five interceptions before he went down with the injury. Zappe’s only pick came on a dropped pass to Nelson Agholor that wound up in a defender’s arms against the Detroit Lions in Week 5.

Zappe has thrown four touchdown passes, and perhaps most importantly, he appears to be improving. Some will argue that the Patriots’ playcalling has been more quarterback friendly with Zappe under center than it was with Jones.

That could be the case, which means that Monday night’s game could be even more important than most other Week 7 matchups–at least regarding the future of the Patriots’ quarterback situation.

If Jones plays poorly and Bill Belichick elects to make a move at halftime to bring Zappe back into the mix, it could be the major event that signals an unexpected shift for the organization. Coming into this season, Jones was seen as the team’s future and franchise quarterback.

However, his slow start and Zappe’s unexpected solid play have created whispers of a quarterback controversy. If Zappe comes into relieve an ineffective Jones on Monday night and perhaps leads the team to a victory, we will have a full-blown issue to belabor for the rest of the season.

At that point, the Patriots might be faced with a decision as to which young signal-caller is the right one to deal away during the offseason.

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