FOXBORO — For all the talk about a Patriots quarterback competition this offseason, the hierarchy of passers through four days of training camp couldn’t be clearer.
Mac Jones is the top quarterback. He takes the first reps in all team drills. He works with the starting offensive line. The top skill players surround him.
Then second-year pro Bailey Zappe takes the next set of reps as the backup while Trace McSorely leads rookies and scout-team players. If that’s ever going to change, then Zappe needs to string together more practices like Sunday’s. Zappe did throw his first interception of training camp when he was picked off by defensive back Jalen Mills on a target to tight end Scotty Washington, but he also went 11-of-13 with four of the better passes thrown so far through four practices.
Zappe hit wide receivers Jalen Hurd and Tre Nixon in the left corner of the end zone during the first cycle of his 11-one-11 reps. Then he completed consecutive touchdown passes to wide receiver Tyquan Thornton in the right corner of the end zone in his second set of full-team reps. If it was a live situation, it’s possible two of those plays would have resulted in sacks, but Zappe was still able to put the ball in the right place.
“Like we say, the back of the end zone, high and away from everybody,” Zappe said after practice.
“Red zone, everything is a lot quicker, the field is a lot shorter. Defense doesn’t have to cover as much field down there. Decision-making for us as quarterbacks is a lot faster, a lot more fast-paced. To be able to do what we did today and score touchdowns like we did is really good to see.”
It was a major step up from the first three days of practice when Zappe was completing less than half of his passes in practice.
“Just getting better every day,” Zappe said. “Starting from Day 1, now we’re on Day 4 in the red zone. Just trying to continue to work on stuff, continue to improve down in the red area. … Today was kind of a product of the work that we’ve put in the last three or four days of installing and getting out here at practice and putting everything together.”
Zappe’s performance last season was a bright spot for the Patriots. As a rookie, the Western Kentucky product won his two starts while completing 70.7 percent of his passes for 781 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions in four appearances.
Head coach Bill Belichick said one major area of improvement for Zappe this offseason was his ability to read defenses.
“Much better idea of what to expect, knows the offense, knows defenses much better than he did last year, has a much better idea of just the pace of installation, camp, what to expect, all those things,” Belichick said. “He’s had a really good spring, too.”
Zappe said he put an emphasis on limiting turnovers, making more big plays and leading the team to more touchdowns.
He also said he’s “100 percent more” comfortable than he was this time last year.
“It’s night and day difference for me,” Zappe said. “Just speaking from a defensive standpoint, being able to see defenses pre- and post-snap has been kind of the biggest thing. That kind of translates to meeting with both Bills (Belichick and O’Brien), watching more film, just diving into the playbook and everything has helped the slow the game down for me.”
Jones was 6-of-10 in practice Sunday. The Patriots will put pads on for the first time for Monday’s practice. That, plus moving out of the red zone, will give a better sense of where the offense stands in the second week of training camp.