Patriots minicamp observations: Drake Maye has his best day yet originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
After concluding voluntary OTAs last week, the New England Patriots took the practice field on Monday for Day 1 of mandatory minicamp.
As has been the case all spring, rookie quarterback Drake Maye was the center of attention. The third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft again served as the No. 2 QB on the depth chart behind veteran Jacoby Brissett. Barring any surprises, that’s how it will be when training camp begins later this summer.
The patriots canceled Tuesday’s practice for a day of Community Service for players and coaches. They will have one last day of mandatory practice on Wednesday before summer break.
So how did Maye do in his second-to-last practice before the six-week break? Our Patriots experts Phil Perry and Tom E. Curran attended Monday’s session in Foxboro and shared their findings in a new episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast.
Patriots Talk: Patriots minicamp begins and Drake Maye continues to impress | Listen and subscribe | Watch on YouTube
“When Phil and I were coming off the field and talking about it, I said, ‘I can’t tell from these practices whether they’re good or not. I don’t have anything to compare them to.’ So when there are a lot of completions, like there were today because they did a lot of hustle drills, 11-on-11 and 7-on-7, two-minute drills where there were penalties… It was a little too much at stake,” Curran said.
“Drake Maye had a good day. Jacoby Brissett is still a better option. He looks as good, if not better, than Drake Maye, who had his best day.”
Perry noted that while Maye’s development has been encouraging, the offense still has a long way to go.
“There were times when it didn’t look very good offensively,” he said. “They did their rush period at the end of practice and basically nobody scored. In six or seven rush drives, I think we saw a field goal made. I don’t think anybody got in the end zone. So, that’s something that “I think I can learn from this: The defense is still the Patriots defense, which is still pretty good and there’s just not a lot of room to operate. Offensively, I think we all still need a little time to get our arms around him.”
Perry came out of Monday’s practice more impressed than Curran with Maye’s performance.
“One thing I don’t agree with you on is that I think Drake Maye was the best quarterback on the field today,” he said. “I think he can do some things that it started to become clear that Jacoby Brissett wasn’t going to do.
“(Brissett) is going to be cleaner and definitely understands what’s going on better, but if you came from Mars today and watched, you wouldn’t know that Jacoby Brissett knows the offense better than Drake Maye because there weren’t many moments where I thought: ‘Oh, the rookie clearly didn’t know what to do there.'”
You can hear Curran and Perry’s takeaways in the full podcast episode.
Featured quotes
Veteran center David Andrews told reporters, including our own Phil Perry, that he hopes to finish his career in New England “the right way.”
David Andrews on the extension he signed this offseason. “It was huge. Obviously I want to finish my career here, finish it the right way.” pic.twitter.com/A14T7gwn90
—Phil Perry (@PhilAPerry) June 10, 2024
Brisset I speak very well of Maye’s development.
“Every day it’s gotten better,” Brissett told reporters. “The nice thing about it is it’s not like, ‘Oh, I’ve got it right now and I’m not thinking about it.’ He’s just constantly trying to find ways to get better, making good throws and you’re seeing his progression come to life.”
Running back Rhamondre Stevenson revealed that he and the Patriots are “close” to a contract extension.