FOXBORO — There are two good reasons to sit an NFL quarterback after one drive in a preseason game.

Reason No. 1: you know what you have.

Say, an All-Pro starter or rising star who ought to be protected from the dangers of meaningless football.

Or, a lifelong journeyman whose career has plateaued and no longer needs to prove himself entering Year 9, 10 or 11.

A journeyman like Jacoby Brissett.

Brissett started the Patriots’ exhibition opener Thursday night, then sat after a single series. He’s a nine-year veteran who’s played in eight different offensive systems and annually ranks between the 25th and 35th best quarterback in the league. Brissett is who he is.

Then there’s reason No. 2: you don’t know what you have, and aren’t in a hurry to find out.

Like, a raw first-round rookie expected to develop into the face of the franchise one day, yet for now can hardly grow stubble. A rookie like Drake Maye.

The uber-talented Maye lasted six plays Thursday night, after following Brissett on the Patriots’ second offensive possession. He attempted three passes, completing a screen and a checkdown around an incompletion that sailed a touch high and late for Jalen Reagor down the deep middle.

For those who haven’t charted or followed Maye’s every rep through 11 training camp practices, that series just about captured his summer to date.

Maye has followed Brissett every day. He’s been reluctant and, mostly, ineffective when throwing downfield. Maye admitted post-game he should have taken a shot, targeting one of his four available curl routes at the first-down marker.

Maye’s also protected the ball, and turned in solid, but unspectacular snaps day in and day out. Oh, and his offensive line often does him no favors.

Right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor false-started during his lone series. The O-line also generated little push on two runs that totaled one yard, pushing Maye back into consecutive third-and-longs. The Patriots’ offensive line is a disaster at offensive tackle, and has no proven backup center.

Even when Maye reps with the starters – something he did for the first time Thursday – it’s not enough.

To that point, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt may be calling plays for the first time since 2009, but he’s no dummie. He called a screen for Maye’s first pass attempt, then scripted a swing route into a deep all-curls play design on third-and-11. Maye got into the huddle, hit the swing route and left the field unscathed.

That was all part of the plan; as was leaving Bailey Zappe to stand in as a punching bag for the next two quarters. Zappe, as much as any player can in a preseason game, confirmed our suspicions about who he is.

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He’s a backup fighting for a backup’s job. A fringe passer and expendable player who’s here to take the hits for Maye, much like Brissett will in the regular season until the rookie is ready to take over.

Zappe averaged four yards per dropback facing a Carolina defense littered with backups. That’s not enough, yet perfectly predictable. Which made Mayo’s insistence on featuring Zappe for most of the game all the more curious.

“It turned into the Zappe Show and the Joe Show,” Mayo said. “And that was the plan.”

Joe meaning Joe Milton, human fuel for talk-radio contrarians and media pot stirrers covering the Patriots. Milton went 4-of-6 for 54 yards and a late touchdown. The touchdown was pretty, no doubt; a 38-yarder he ripped in a way no quarterback has in New England since the years of peak Tom Brady.

Milton looked good. Credit to him.

And yes, there’s a quarterback competition in Foxboro. But no, it’s not for the starting job. It’s to be the No. 3 quarterback, a job Milton has yet to seize based on practice reps thus far.

As for the starting spot, Maye remains firmly behind Brissett. He’s simply not ready.

Maye entered the league as both the No. 3 overall pick, and a raw prospect with rare talent, impressive college production and clear, fundamental flaws. It’s been a steep learning curve, as most anyone studying the draft closely expected Year 1 would be given his background.

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Maye, 21, has played just two seasons of football the past four years. He lost his final high school season to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and served as a backup at North Carolina in 2021.

For now, Maye is headed back to a backup role. But even if he was pushing Brissett to start, the Patriots aren’t ready to support Maye until they’re willing to put their starting offensive line in front of him; the only O-line worthy of seeing an NFL field right now.

But before Thursday night, they hadn’t done it. So when will Maye see more snaps with them again?

“We’ve got a big week against Phill,” Mayo said.. “… When he’s ready to go, we’ll put him in.”

Maybe.

Or, Maye be not.