Bailey Zappe isn't bothered by all the quarterback draft chatter surrounding Patriots

FOXBORO -- As the losses piled up for the Patriots throughout the season, the possibility of landing a top draft pick and potentially a franchise quarterback were always a silver lining. That thought has always provided a little bit of warmth and comfort for fans throughout the team's struggles.

The Pats currently hold the third-overall pick in April, which can potentially climb to second-overall or fall to the fifth pick, depending on how Week 18 plays out. A top pick will put New England in a spot to take one of the prime quarterback prospects like USC's Caleb Williams, UNC's Drake Maye, or LSU's Jayden Daniels. There are also options like Washington's Michael Penix Jr. should the Patriots opt to take a quarterback later in the draft, though the southpaw's draft stock is likely going to skyrocket if he plays well in the College Football Championship on Monday night.

All this QB chatter has been fun for those who follow the team, but what about the guy who is currently the quarterback? That job has belonged to Bailey Zappe since Mac Jones' permanent benching in Week 13, and while the offense has still struggled to do much of anything, the second-year quarterback has helped the team to wins in two of his five starts.

Still, Zappe is not New England's answer at quarterback. Not when the team will have a chance to draft a franchise guy in April. 

But nothing seems to rattle Zappe on the field, and he isn't letting all the draft hype distract him heading into Week 18 against the New York Jets.

"If that's what they decide to do, that's what they decide to do," Zappe told WEEI on Tuesday when asked how he'd feel about the Patriots drafting another quarterback this spring. "I'm looking forward to competing against whoever comes in here for that job. I'm going to do the same thing I did last offseason, get ready to be the guy and if my name's called I'm going to do the best thing I can to help the team win and hopefully it is and hopefully we get after it next year.

"But I don't want to skip over these guys that we're playing this Sunday," Zappe was quick to add.

He's also not focusing on everything else that could happen after Sunday. Mainly, he isn't thinking about Sunday's game being Bill Belichick's final afternoon as head coach of the Patriots.

"I'm not really into all that stuff," he said. "If it is, if it isn't, I'm not quite sure. No matter if it is or isn't, I think the one goal is to win no matter what's going on. So I think the message from him and for everybody is just to finish this year on a high note."  

Zappe can do that on Sunday by putting together a full game. In each of his starts, he's look solid one half but fallen off in the other. On Sunday in Buffalo, he threw three interceptions in the first half before playing mistake-free football in the second. But those first-half turnovers, plus a fumble by tight end Pharaoh Brown, put New England in too big of a hole and they lost, 27-21.

Despite his struggles right after kickoff, Zappe said he wasn't worried about getting benched for Jones in Buffalo, 

"No, not at all," he said. "There was never, to my knowledge, any conversations about that at all. [Offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien] just told me to keep firing it. I've kind of had that mentality of trying to have short-term memory loss, that gunslinger mentality, no matter what's going on."

As for cutting out those mistakes and putting together a full game on Sunday, Zappe said that rests on his shoulders.

"Speaking for myself, it's just being smarter with the ball," he said. "Understanding what the play is, understanding what we're trying to attack, understanding what the defense is doing against us on that certain play and just getting it to the guys. We have great playmakers. We have guys in the receiver room, tight end room, running back room that can do great things with the ball in their hands. So the moment I can get the ball in their hands -- the faster I can, the faster they can make plays so I just have got to do a better job of that."