Stepping into the boots of a six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach is never an easy task. But Jerod Mayo, after three weeks of NFL action, has fared pretty well in the Foxborough hot seat. Replacing Bill Belichick, Mayo’s early signs as head coach in New England have shown promising signs considering his handling of rookie QB Drake Maye.

This year’s No.3 overall draft pick, Maye, was slated to lead the Patriots in New England. However, Mayo has since chosen experience over raw talent, thereby continuing with Jacoby Brissett as QB1. Although the Patriots did manage to win against the Bengals in the first week, they have since lost to the Seahawks and the Jets. But it didn’t stop their former WR Julian Edelman from singing praises of Mayo, “I think he’s done really well. I mean, this is a tough situation, to follow arguably the greatest head coach in the history of the game.”

Well, this is not the first time Edelman has come out praising the 38-year-old, as he did the same when the Patriots stunned the Bengals in Week 1. As they came away with a hard-fought 16-10 victory in Cincinnati, Edelman said, “I’m so happy for Jerod Mayo because that’s gotta be such a hard spot to be in. You are coming in after Bill Belichick. Let’s be real.” Although it was a lackluster game, Brissett, making his debut in Patriots colors strung up 15-of-24 with 121 passing yards.

However, since that opening night in Cincinnati, Brissett has been sacked nine times while throwing for just 368 yards with only one TD. Even the Patriots’ offense is nowhere near the top of the NFL ranking as they find themselves languishing in 31st after 3 games into the season. But it didn’t stop Mayo from supporting Brissett after the Jets’ loss. “Jacoby is our quarterback until I say he’s not the quarterback. I thought last night he showed a lot of toughness, a lot of grit. I would say as a team, as a coaching staff, we’ve just got to be better.”

Amid Brissett’s struggles in the offensive line, Drake Maye got his first minutes in the NFL. As he finished with 4-of-8 passes for 22 yards. But will this be enough to give the rookie QB a starting berth as the Patriots progress through the season?

Will Drake Maye get his much-awaited start in New England colors?

This Wednesday, speaking with the reporters, Jerod Mayo spoke about the chances of Maye starting for the Patriots, “He’s looked good in practice. But once again, it’s just practice. You want to get a guy like that, obviously, on the football field, but at this current time. I don’t want to go back to that answer.” While offering us some context behind Maye’s progression, Mayo did clarify the importance of the show team.

“He doesn’t want to know what the defense is doing. He doesn’t want to know the coverage. He’s going out there, going through his reads, and we talk about that all the time. Just because you’re on the show team doesn’t mean you can’t work on your fundamentals and your progressions,” shared the Patriots head coach. Although Mayo is hell-bent on developing Maye until it’s the right time for him to step up.

Considering his lower average release time of 2.38 seconds to 2.80 seconds of Brissett, Maye may be better suited to start for New England. But for now, Mayo may not be eager to make a drastic change in his team before the 49ers clash on Monday. Until Brissett gets injured, which hopefully doesn’t happen, he might be the one leading the Patriots to San Francisco.