Steve Smith Jr. still high on Matt Corral's NFL potential after joining New England Patriots
Mac Jones is the starting quarterback in New England. That much was clear when Bill Belichick cut every other quarterback on the roster. After a few questions about the backup and recently claiming Matt Corral, it looks like he’ll be behind Jones and try to revive his career in New England.
One person who thinks that this is very possible for Corral to thrive in New England is Steve Smith Jr. A former Carolina Panthers receiver and now a broadcaster for the team says it wasn’t his fault that things didn’t work out in Carolina for Corral.
“So much of it was circumstances,” Smith Jr. said. “He had a new boss (coach Frank Reich). Last year, he had to figure out the old boss (Matt Rhule), then an interim (Steve Wilks), so it was three coaches. Then his [foot] injury [that sidelined him for his rookie season], so he was going through things mentally. But when it was time to get out there and do it, it can be harder than what you saw [in meetings].”
Matt Corral was taken in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. However, an injury in the 2022 preseason, ironically in a game against New England, cost him the season. With a new staff in place in 2023, Carolina went in a new direction.
Despite these challenges, Smith Jr. thinks that Corral still has plenty of upside as a player. The problem is that he really hasn’t had much of a chance to prove himself on the field yet.
“I think he can be a good player, but we don’t really know at this point,” Smith Jr. said. “Watching him in preseason, I thought he made good reads. He was going through his progression. He might have been a little slow with it, but I’d take being a little too late than not seeing it at all.”
There is a chance that Matt Corral gets the chance to see the field this year in New England. Mac Jones is the starter but is under immense pressure to perform better this season than he did in 2022.
The QB situation in New England
The New England Patriots entered the preseason with four quarterbacks on the roster. However, after cuts, only starter Mac Jones was left on the 53-man roster, with popular backups Bailey Zappe and Malik Cunningham getting cut.
However, both Zappe and Cunningham cleared waivers and rejoined New England as members of the practice squad. It was shortly after that when the Patriots added Matt Corral to the roster for this season, with the expectation that he would be the backup quarterback.