Bailey Zappe or Mac Jones? On Thursday’s Felger and Mazz, Mazz made it known that if there’s a quarterback competition at New England Patriots training camp and Jones doesn’t win and it’s a tie, he wants Zappe as the starter.

• Audio

• Bailey Zappe spoke today between drills as the @PatsFoundation held a youth football clinic at Naval Station Newport. He was asked by @NBC10_Joe about his mindset entering OTA’a and competing at quarterback. pic.twitter.com/VB1Lz7tRsf

  — Bob Socci (@BobSocci) April 12, 2023

• Mazz would take Zappe over Jones

  Felger: Can I ask you something?

  Mazz: Okay. Yeah.

  Felger: Now let me set it up a little bit because we have a breaking opinion on the program here. So I think it deserves just a little set up. Let me ask you…if it is, in fact, legit and it is a real competition between these two, who should win and who do you want?

  Mazz: I’d want Zappe and I’ll tell you why: all things being equal, let’s say they go into camp and they play to a tie, a “dead heat”. Why does Mac Jones get the benefit of the doubt? Why does Mac Jones get the advantage? Because he went to Alabama?

  Jim Murray: (pretending to be Jones) “Because I was picked 15th overall”.

  Mazz: Okay, so then again, but it relates to where he was picked or where he went to school and not the actual play on the field? And I would argue that if Bailey Zappe is as good as Mac Jones in year two as Jones is in year three in camp, I’m giving the job to Zappe. I’m going there. I’m doing that. I know what Jones is and I know last year there were obstacles that he had to encounter that were not his fault. I would also tell you I didn’t love the way he handled the adversity. I mean, I think that that’s a significant part of it. I think he still acts with entitlement. I don’t hear any of that in (Zappe). And whatever life I saw in the Patriots last year came when (Zappe) was at quarterback. So is it a small sample? Yes. But I have a pretty good sample on Mac Jones. Jones has been the quarterback for two years and I sent you some of the numbers this morning, that of guys who have started 20 games in the NFL over the last two seasons, a minimum of 20 games, actually, I’m sorry, 25 starts, Mac Jones ranks 19th out of 23 players. 23 quarterbacks he ranks 19th in passer rating. That’s a two year sample. So let’s just look at the last year. Last year he got worse. There were only two guys in the league that were in the bottom part of those ratings with Mac Jones. So in other words, he’s in a class with Matt Ryan and Davis Mills. That’s it. Those are the only three guys who ranked at or below where Jones has been in the last two years collectively and in last season. Are those guys getting the benefit of the doubt?

  Felger: No, those guys aren’t.

  Mazz: So why should this kid get the benefit of the doubt?

  Jim Murray: He shouldn’t.

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  New England Patriots quarterbacks #10 Mac Jones and #4 Bailey Zappe share a laugh at practice. (Bob Breidenbach/The Providence Journal-USA TODAY NETWORK)

• Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!

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