The Patriots will wait a while to start the Drake Maye era, and will instead give Jacoby Brissett the starting nod for their season opener against the Bengals.
Maye actually outplayed Brissett for most of the preseason, even according to Coach Jerod Mayo, but the Patriots are trying to take the longer view with Maye and bring him along slowly. Part of their play with developing the No. 3 overall pick is to have him start the season behind Brissett, who rejoined the team that originally drafted him in 2016 after spending time with the Colts, Dolphins, Browns and Commanders over the last four seasons.
Brissett played two games for Washington last year, completing 18-of-23 passes for 224 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions and also running for 19 yards. He played a larger sample size in 16 games for the Browns in 2022, totaling 2,608 passing yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions.
This preseason, Brissett played in all three games going 5-for-14 for 36 yards, an interception and no touchdowns. He also sustained a shoulder injury in the final preseason game against the Commanders, but reports are that he’ll be good to go for the start of the season. How long he stays healthy remains to be seen, though, since the Patriots offensive line has looked very suspect in the preseason.
Brissett is an affordable QB for Week 1 DFS contests, including the $4M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st]. His salary of just $5,100 leaves you plenty of space for whatever other stars you want, but he does have a limited ceiling in a tough matchup against the Bengals.
The Patriots are +9.5 in that road matchup in Cincinnati, where the over/under of 41. In the big picture, no team in the NFL has longer odds to make the playoffs this season, since the Patriots are +900 to make the playoffs. The team has an over/under of 4.5 wins with the over at -135.
With Caleb Williams, Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels all starting Maye’s odds to have the Most Regular Season Rookie Passing Yards have increased to +1000. If you think he’ll take over the job from Brissett and be successful, it’s a decent long-shot pick if some of the other rookies struggle or deal with injuries.
All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
The Crown Is Yours: Sign up for DraftKings and experience the ultimate host for games and betting experiences!
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is z.thompson) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
