The New England Patriots surprised the NFL world when they waived both of their backup quarterbacks in Bailey Zappe and Malik Cunningham at the 53-man roster deadline. While both were added back to the practice squad after clearing waivers, New England added another quarterback in Matt Corral. However, his stint with the Patriots was a short one.
Per NFL Media, the Patriots are releasing Corral. He was not at practice on Friday due to a non-injury related issue. As for the quarterback who will back Mac Jones up, New England is reportedly promoting Zappe to the 53-man roster. Bill Belichick is going back to his original QB depth chart.
NFL Media originally reported that Corral and Zappe would compete for the No. 2 job. Interestingly enough, it was the Patriots who the Carolina Panthers traded with to move up in the 2022 NFL Draft and select Corral. The Ole Miss product suffered a season-ending injury in the preseason last year, and still has not suited up for a regular-season game.
Zappe, who was selected by the Patriots in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, went 2-0 as the starter last year as a rookie. In four total games played, he completed 70.7% of his passes for 781 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions.
When Belichick was asked about waiving Zappe, he said "all the roster decisions are based on what we feel like is best for our football team." The coach went on to say 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."
Despite the recent shake up, New England's quarterback room is back to where it was in 2022.
