FOXBORO — Jerod Mayo won’t reveal his starting quarterback for Week 1.

So, reading the tea leaves, I will.

Drumroll, please …

The winner is … Jacoby Brissett.

Because after all we’ve seen and heard this summer, who else could it be?

Brissett took more than 98% of the starting reps in training camp. He started all three preseason games. After Sunday’s preseason finale, Mayo inferred Brissett is the team’s best quarterback. Then, Brissett continued to lead drills at practice on Wednesday.

Mayo said he’s waiting to share his decision with Brissett and Drake Maye because the team’s recent waiver claims and corresponding cuts created too “hectic” a schedule Wednesday. After he tells the quarterbacks Thursday, Mayo will make an announcement in a team meeting.

But if any players have been following their coach’s public comments, not to mention the division of practice reps, they need not wait.

Mayo dropped his latest inadvertent hint Wednesday.

“I would say one thing: I think it’s important to remember what’s good for the team today may not be good for the team weeks down the line,” Mayo volunteered in an answer about whether players deserve an explanation. “So I think the challenge is, you want to win every single game now, but also, you’re trying to build something special.”

What’s best for the Patriots long-term is obviously to play Maye. Give him as many regular-season reps as possible to expedite his development. Let Maye learn and grow, so he can maximize his potential as a franchise quarterback and perhaps one day carry the Patriots back to the Promised Land.

But short-term? Sit the kid.

Patriots QB Jacoby Brissett updates shoulder injury, QB competition

Playing Maye now, behind what may be the NFL’s worst offensive line, would be akin to sending a 16-year-old with a learner’s permit onto the Autobahn with worn brakes and a flat tire. Maye would be destined to crash, then regress and by extension set the franchise back.

The Patriots cannot protect, let alone support, a rookie quarterback right now, no matter what Eliot Wolf says. The offense is a wreck.

The starting O-line consists entirely of cheap veterans and former mid-to-late-round draft picks. And lately, it’s gotten worse: both starters on the left side – tackle Vederian Lowe and guard Sidy Sow – are out with injuries.

How could the Patriots throw Maye into that fire in good conscience? Especially considering they could face as many as three top-10 defenses in the first four weeks, including trips to play the Jets and 49ers?

Enter Brissett.

It is an unfortunate, harsh and perfectly-NFL reality that the 31-year-old is both being paid to play quarterback and take punishment in Maye’s place. That’s why Maye can out-play him, as Mayo admitted earlier this week, and still sit. That’s why Brissett’s one-year, $10 million contract consists mostly of guaranteed money.

This is what the cash is for.

Six Patriots absent from post-cutdown practice, seven return on P-squad

In his limited media exposure, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt has also repeatedly stressed Brissett is a more capable problem-solver at the line of scrimmage; someone able to unmask disguised blitzes and simulated pressures that create free runners who hunt and break quarterbacks.

“There’s certain things in this offense that Jacoby, having played in it, understands some of the tools you can use to get out of certain situations, pressure situations. Things like that that Drake is still learning,” Van Pelt said last week. “He is pushing.”

In a recent interview with Yahoo Sports, Van Pelt went a step further.

“Jacoby right now is more suited with the skill set and his toolbox to be able to handle a lot of the issues that come up and Drake is still learning that. You don’t want to put a guy out there when he doesn’t know exactly how to protect himself from certain looks,” he said.

“So that’s the whole process right now. And I think at some point, if and when that does happen, then it will be obvious to everybody.”

Related Articles

Why Jerod Mayo will ‘always’ root for Bailey Zappe after QB joins Chiefs

Six Patriots absent from post-cutdown practice, seven return on P-squad

Jerod Mayo: It was ‘clear’ that Joey Slye won Patriots’ kicking competition

Patriots cut four players to make room for waiver claims

Jerod Mayo: Patriots know their starting QB, waiting to announce Thursday

What’s obvious today is Brissett will be named the starter tomorrow.

Maye made it more difficult for Mayo by pulling even with Brissett over the past two weeks, a massive positive for the Patriots who should prioritize his development above all else this season. But the hardest part became Brissett, who faltered during that same stretch, and now he inspires less confidence.

But should Mayo waver, and deviate from the long-term development plan for Maye, he would only undercut confidence in himself and his staff. It already feels like we’ve wasted a ton of time wondering and waiting about the identity of the Patriots’ Week 1 starter.

Enough.

Name Brissett, get him under center, and let’s get back to football.