Bills' AFC East rival might have a QB competition on their hands

The pre-season officially kicked off on Thursday, August 8th, for the New England Patriots and they are going through quite a rebuild. Long time head coach Bill Belichick is no longer with the team, Mac Jones is with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and new head coach Jerod Mayo is revitalizing the team with some new quarterback talent. The 2024 NFL draft saw the Patriots select with the third overall pick, Drake Maye, who is their future starting quarterback. Along with Maye, the Patriots also drafted Joe Milton III out of Tennessee, another quarterback who is known for a big arm and some good athleticism.

Along with these two rookie quarterbacks, they brought in Jacoby Brissett who is a long time veteran who has played with New England in the past. The only returning player in this room is Bailey Zappe, who doesn't seem to have any chance of being a backup, much less the starter. So much so, that in their pre-season game against the Panthers, the Patriots home crowd booed Zappe at one point.

Both Maye and Milton got some run in this game. It seemed the Patriots didn't want their first round pick to get many snaps, as he played one series, going 2/3 for 19 yards. It seems they wanted to protect Maye more than what fans of the NFL wanted to see out of him.

Meanwhile, Milton got his opportunity late in the game. There were quite a few dynamic plays from Milton, including a touchdown pass. The crowd was really fired up almost every play he executed. Even though his stat line doesn't show it (4/6, 54 yards, 1 touchdown, 5 rushes, 22 rushing yards) Milton had quite an impressive performance. So much so, that there might be something to a competition between these two rookies.

If Maye doesn't live up to his original hype, and Milton can continue to develop, this could be a real quarterback competition. Of course, not having a defined starter could cause some issues for them. This could only help Buffalo more, who is going through their own transition on the defense, specifically the safeties. Of course, having the established regime under Sean McDermott against a rookie head coach in Mayo gives the advantage to McDermott. More importantly, McDermott usually does very well against rookie quarterbacks.