Jerod Mayo had a plan.
Its principles were clear even when its timeline wasn’t.
The New England Patriots’ first-year head coach would allow veteran journeyman Jacoby Brissett and rookie Drake Maye to duke it out through 2024 for the starting quarterback position.
As long as Brissett held the edge, he would start. When that was no longer apparent, Maye was the guy.
“If he beats Jacoby out, I mean, there’s nothing else really to be said – and hopefully he continues to get better,” Mayo told Yahoo Sports during an August training camp visit. “When I talk about competition, it’s not just in training camp. It’s on a day-to-day basis throughout the season, in the meeting room, during walkthrough and on the field. So you always have to have that sense of urgency that someone’s going to take your job.
“We talk about competition all the time.”
With frustration mounting and the oft-discussed bumps in the road becoming increasingly steep, the Patriots elected to promote Maye to starterthis week against …