Bill Belichick kept himself busy last week jockeying around his quarterback position behind Mac Jones. Arguably the most surprising transaction on cutdown day in the NFL was New England deciding to waive second-year quarterback Bailey Zappe, exposing him to be claimed by another team in the league. That ultimately didn't come to fruition and Zappe immediately signed with the Patriots practice squad upon clearing waivers, but it was a rather curious turn of events.
Speaking to reporters for the first time since trimming the roster down to 53 players, the head coach was asked about waiving Zappe and said Monday that "all the roster decisions are based on what we feel like is best for our football team." Belichick went on to say that he believes Zappe is "a good, young, developing player."
"There's a number of things involved there," Belichick said, via the Boston Herald. "But glad to have Bailey to continue to work with him. Still think he's a good, young, developing player, and so we'll keep working with him."
The question with Zappe now is whether or not he'll ascend back onto the active roster in time for the Week 1 opener against Philadelphia on Sunday. The Patriots did claim former Panthers quarterback Matt Corral and he is currently the only other quarterback on the 53-man roster outside of Mac Jones. However, Belichick did say that it was too early to say whether or not Corral would be the one backing up Jones against the Eagles.
"He hasn't even been on the field yet," said Belichick. "We'll see."
Corral entered the NFL in the same draft class as Zappe. The Ole Miss product was selected by Carolina with the 94th overall pick while Zappe was taken by the Patriots at No. 137.
"We claimed him when he was available," Belichick told WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show" on Monday, via NESN.com. "Take a look at him and see how it goes. Had a very good career at Mississippi, and then hasn't really had a lot of chance to do much in the last two years. Was injured and missed some time, but had a good preseason. So, we'll see how it goes. Look forward to working with him."
NFL Media reported late last week that Corral and Zappe will compete for the backup job behind Jones.
