Will Grier found himself cut from the Patriots a day after saying he’d love the opportunity to play amid New England’s quarterback situation. He eventually re-signed to the practice squad, but it’s unclear what his role will be with the team going forward.
All signs point to Bailey Zappe making his first start since Week 6 of the 2022 season when the Patriots welcome the Los Angeles Chargers to Gillette Stadium on Sunday. Mac Jones didn’t throw a pass during the media portion of Wednesday’s practice, and didn’t talk Thursday. It’s unknown if he’ll even be active for Sunday’s game, or if Malik Cunningham — who rotated in with Zappe on Wednesday — will be activated.
On the latest episode of “Eye On Foxborough,” MassLive Patriots reporters Chris Mason and Mark Daniels discussed the situation revolving around Grier and what the Patriots could theoretically do in Week 13.
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“It’s my understanding that that was not his first choice, and that they really needed to talk him into coming back and really make their case to him,” Mason said of Grier re-signing with the Patriots. “Does he have any role moving forward? Because it seems like they must have said something to him to get him to come back.”
The Patriots, in theory, could find a loophole to the NFL’s emergency quarterback rule in order to carry three quarterbacks on their roster. All signs point to Zappe starting, so Daniels suggested if Jones is inactive and elevate Grier and Cunningham, then the Patriots technically would have three QB’s ready to go.
“You’ll have Malik with some of his run plays, some of his receiver plays. And then you have Will Grier on the sideline in the event Bailey Zappe’s absolutely horrible,” Daniels said. “I’m not sure it’s going to happen. But I kind of like that idea.”
It remains unclear if the Patriots will elevate either Grier or Cunningham or just role with Zappe and Jones as they have all season. While Bill Belichick hasn’t named his starter yet, sources told Daniels that Zappe was promoted during practice this week.
It will certainly be interesting to see how this all plays out, especially if Grier indeed sees game action for the first time since 2019.
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