Patriots OC Bill O'Brien heaps praise on Matt Corral's work ethic
Question marks arose when the New England Patriots cut quarterbacks Bailey Zappe and Malik Cunningham following the preseason, leaving Mac Jones as the only quarterback on the Patriots’ roster. Zappe and Cunningham are now on the team’s practice squad, with New England claiming former Carolina Panthers quarterback Matt Corral off of waivers shortly after.
Corral is entering his second season in the league, and while he hasn’t been named the team’s backup quarterback yet, offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien likes what he’s seen so far.
“It started last weekend when he got here,” O’Brien said. “And it takes a lot of work between myself, Evan Rothstein (assistant QBs coach), and then, obviously, Matt himself. Matt has been here morning, noon, and night and he’s doing a good job of learning. And, we just need to keep progressing him.”
The Panthers selected Corral with the No. 94 pick in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft, making him the fourth quarterback selected in his class.
He suffered a Lisfranc injury during the preseason last year against his new current team the New England Patriots, sidelining him for his entire rookie season. But this preseason he appeared in every single game for Carolina, where he competed 28 of his 47 pass attempts for 249 yards and ran four times for 47 yards.
His play wasn’t enough to make Carolina’s team, as the Panthers waived him, but now as Patriot he’s getting up to speed in a new offensive scheme.
“It’s hard, you can’t throw everything at him at once because that’s a lot of information. So, we try to do a good job of giving him the things that are important right now. It’s a team effort and he’s done a good job of just coming in here and trying to learn and soak it up,” O’Brien added.
Corral’s future with the Patriots will be interesting, as head coach Bill Belichick showed zero fear with putting in another quarterback with Zappe making four game appearances last season.
Corral lacks experience, not appearing in a single regular season game yet in his career, but he does come with upside. The former four-star recruit was ranked the No. 56 overall player and the No. 6 quarterback in the country in his 2018 recruiting class according to On3’s Industry Ranking, and he boasted a stellar career in college at Ole Miss.
In his final two seasons as the Rebels’ starter, he posted 6,686 yards and 49 touchdown passes, becoming more efficient in his senior season where he had just five interceptions. And the Patriots are hoping that he could potentially bring that same production to Foxborough.