The New England Patriots trimmed their roster from 90 to 53 players on Tuesday. Only one of those 53 players is a quarterback.
Mac Jones is currently the lone QB on the roster after backups Bailey Zappe and Malik Cunningham were waived. Trace McSorley, the fourth QB with the Patriots in camp, was released on Monday.
"Zappe Fever" was a hot topic last season when he won two games while taking over for an injured Jones. However, Zappe struggled mightily throughout 2023 training camp and couldn't find his groove in his preseason appearances. That apparently was enough for Bill Belichick and the Patriots to move on from the 2022 fourth-round pick.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Our Phil Perry and Tom E. Curran shared their immediate reactions to Zappe's release on the latest episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast.
🔊 Patriots Talk: Patriots waive Zappe, so who backs up Mac? | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
"They must feel pretty good about being able to get (Zappe) through waivers and back on the team because otherwise, Mac Jones is going to have to be Superman," Perry said. ...
"It was a bad summer (for Zappe). ... They must feel as though the tape on Zappe was bad enough that even teams that maybe had interest in him in the draft last year -- and there were some, I spoke to teams that were interested in him as a backup -- even they would watch his tape from the summer and say, 'Thanks, but no thanks.'"
New England Patriots
Curran wasn't all that surprised given how Zappe looked on the practice field and in preseason.
"The physical limitations needed to be overcome by pinpoint accuracy. The accuracy wasn't present," Curran said. "And as we reported many times, the glacial nature of his decision-making was making it so hard for him to get the protection necessary."
So, who will back up Jones in 2023? That remains to be seen, but here are some potential options for Bill Belichick and Co. with less than two weeks until Week 1 of the regular season.
Check out the latest episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast on the NBC Sports Boston Podcast Network, or watch on YouTube.