Ever since Tom Brady left the New England Patriots, the once-dominant franchise has been struggling. They haven’t even found a proper replacement for the face of the franchise. A recent Patriots retiree might just know the reason for all the chaos. And that might be a split in the team’s locker room due to questions over the Brady replacement.

Safety Devin McCourty hung up his cleats at the end of a disappointing 2022 season for the Patriots. And he underlined the rift that might have caused all the problems for the team.

Rift over Tom Brady’s replacement 

Players like Tom Brady cannot be easily replaced. The Patriots might have understood that the hard way by now. In fact, it’s such a tall order that it might have actually caused a split in the Patriots’ dressing room. Former safety Devin McCourty, who saw everything unfold before his eyes, certainly believes so.

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“I think there were some guys in the locker room that were like ‘Let’s go with Zappe.’ Or ‘No, Mac looked good today.’ It was just a back and forth, which to me, spoke more about what we had on offense than the quarterback. We never were solidified as an offensive group that guys had full confidence in anything we were doing. There was never true hope,” McCourty said via ESPN.

Some in the team wanted 2021 first-round pick Mac Jones to be their starting QB. Others favored the 2022 fourth-round pick Bailey Zappe to get that job. And according to McCourty, that undid much of the hard work that the team has done. Of course, replacing Brady is next to impossible. But rallying behind a single starter might be the first required step on the journey.

Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe?

Mac Jones is the starter for the Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick. He stuck by him, even as their season crumbled to dust around them. While the young QB did show some promise in his rookie season in 2021, he seemed a bit regressed in the last campaign.

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Jones played 14 games for his team but could win only six of them. He threw a shade under 3000 passing yards in the season with 2,997 yards. The QB also threw 14 touchdown passes and as many as 11 interceptions. All-in-all, a terrible campaign from the QB of great potential.

Bailey Zappe won two games out of the three he started. He threw a total of 781 passing yards and five touchdown passes. Not bad for a fourth-string QB.

The debate about who should start in the 2023 season for the Patriots is still on. But who will actually get the job is still unclear. Will whoever gets the starting job be able to fill the boots of a QB who won seven Super Bowl titles, including six with the Patriots?

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