One Patriots insider painted a bleak picture of the team after apparent discourse in the locker room following a 30-13 loss to the 49ers on Sunday, New England’s third straight.
“Right now they are teetering on mutiny in that locker room,” Evan Lazar, a senior reporter for Patriots.com, said during a recent installment of his and Alex Ruth’s “Catch 22” podcast, which lives on the team website.
“And I don’t want to be an alarmist or [be hyperbolic]… I don’t. But I was in that locker room after the game on Sunday. The defense is mad at the defense.
“The offense is mad at the offense. You have young receivers who are literally throwing tantrums on film.”
As it was mentioned on Boston-based WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” this is significant because Lazar works for the team.
Lazar also called out second-year wideout Demario “Pop” Douglas, who let out his frustrations on the field when he was open and wasn’t targeted.
Douglas took accountability Wednesday, telling MassLive, “That’s not me. I felt bad as soon as I watched it. That was poor by me, how I was on the field. But my team got my back, and I definitely got theirs. It’s just my love of the game. And I love winning.”
Lazar added, “Good on Pop Douglas for owning that.”
Lazar then brought up the Patriots’ quarterback situation.
Veteran Jacoby Brissett has struggled under center this season with the team off to a 1-3 start, even after upsetting the Bengals in their opener.
Drake Maye — New England’s top pick in the 2024 NFL Draft — is the heir apparent and his teammates may be getting anxious for him to make his NFL debut.
“You’re at the point now with 52 other guys in that locker room that all watch both these two quarterbacks practice every single day. That all know that they drafted Drake Maye third overall,” Lazar said. “And at what point in time do some of these guys say to themselves, ‘Why am I going out there and getting my butt kicked every single Sunday and Drake can’t?
“Like why am I going out there with a quarterback who can’t get me the football, when we’ve got the Ferrari back in the garage that can get me the football?’”
Later that day, Lazar walked back his “mutiny” remark, and said he “got a little carried away” during a “heated” conversation with Ruth.
“The word I used, ‘mutiny,’ there is no mutiny in the Patriots locker room,” Lazar said via phone on 98.5 The Sports Hub. “And like I said I got carried away and that was my bad. That was not what was going on.
“I think just the biggest thing that I worry about — and this is just me, personally, my opinion — is how long the rest of the players in the locker room going to sit there and take their lumps while Drake Maye waits in the wings and waits for his turn.
“So it was just my opinion and it kind of came out stronger than I intended it to.”
A struggling quarterback and apparent locker room discourse doesn’t make for a great recipe for first-year head coach Jerod Mayo.
The Patriots, now 1-3, face the Dolphins (1-3) at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on Sunday.