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Drake Maye Report: Rookie QB shows great qualities on day one Originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
Editor’s note: Following each training camp practice, Phil Perry will provide a detailed analysis of Drake Maye’s day, complete with the No. 3 overall pick’s snap counts, passing stats and the pros and cons of his performance, in The Drake Maye Report.
FOXBORO — Drake Maye just has to hit.
For a franchise looking to climb out of its post-Tom Brady slump. For a fan base looking to sink its teeth into anything that excites them. The task falls on the rookie quarterback and those around him who are tasked with maximizing his abilities.
It’s a no-brainer, but the scene on the Patriots’ first day of training camp was a reminder of what was at stake for Maye, his coaching staff, the Kraft family and those who supported them.
The first summer practice of the post-Bill Belichick era was quiet When it comes to the juice fans brought to the fields behind Gillette Stadium, it’s hard to blame them. This is a team lacking in star power and coming off a 4-13 season that hasn’t won a playoff game in five years.
But the few displays of energy that fans in attendance showed on Wednesday were generated by the one player in whom this fan base has placed more hope than any other.
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When Maye first walked onto the field, wearing his bright red No. 10, there was a huge buzz. When he passed to JuJu Smith-Schuster in front of the stands along the right sideline, there was an explosion of oohs and aahs. He threw a long pass to Jalen Reagor that was caught with one hand.There was a momentary commotion.
Not everything was perfect for Maye, but on his first day of training for this revamped franchise, Maye’s impressive physicality and little else have the ability to generate a certain level of palpable enthusiasm in a crowd thirsty for good football.
Let’s get into the details of Maye’s Day 1…
IThe breakdown of representation
A day after head coach Jerod Mayo stated that Drake Maye He would have the opportunity to take the starting quarterback job from Jacoby Brissett.continued to provide Maye with a relatively even split of competitive reps with his veteran teammate.
While Brissett was clearly the best quarterback in practice (he worked with the top offensive line and was first in every competitive period of practice), Maye was clearly the No. 2. When practice was split in two for 11-on-11 work, Brissett and Maye worked on one field with the team’s best offensive and defensive players. Meanwhile, Bailey Zappe and Joe Milton took the adjacent field with players who would be considered lower on the depth chart.
Brissett saw 11 snaps of 11-on-11 work and six snaps of 7-on-7 action. Maye was given 10 snaps of 11-on-11 work and six snaps of 7-on-7 competitive action. Essentially a 50-50 split.
While it was Brissett who ran with the starters along the offensive line, Maye saw a fair share of snaps that left a good impression on his coaching staff. It was the kind of workload that, if it continues, would suggest the team isn’t preparing him for a “redshirt year,” no matter what.
You will be given the opportunity to compete for the position.
Crunning the numbers
Maye was 6-for-10 in his competitive games. He had two 11-on-11 plays that resulted in quarterback squabbles and fumbled on a play late in practice.
Brissett completed 10 of 13 passes with one interception that was deflected by Jonathan Jones and caught by Kyle Dugger.
PArrangement of the day
Maye had a chance to show off his ability to generate RPM with ease when he threw a soft pass down the right sideline toward Jalen Reagor. It must have been the result of some sort of pre-snap play by Maye, who likely noticed that the wide receiver would be blocked in single coverage by young cornerback Azizi Hearn. The ball came out quickly and was set up in a path that allowed Reagor to use his speed to run underneath the throwing opportunity.
Reagor’s one-handed catch about 40 yards down the field was what made the play memorable, but Maye’s accuracy (not to mention his willingness to quickly and confidently throw the ball down the field) had to be encouraging to the Patriots’ coaching staff. That was one of the qualities that made Maye worthy of the third overall pick in April.
IWhy is it ready?
Brissett remains the likely option as the Patriots’ Week 1 starter, but in this section of the Drake Maye Report, following each training camp practice, we’ll highlight the parts of the rookie’s performance that would suggest he’s primed to sit atop the quarterback hierarchy in New England sooner rather than later.
Maye’s deep throw to Reagor wasn’t his only accurate pass across the field. On the next snap after that explosive burst, there was another throw that came close to landing. Facing the left sideline, with his rookie Ja’Lynn Polk in tight coverage, Maye threw a pass along the sideline that grazed Polk’s hands and fell incomplete out of bounds. Had the two connected there, the still-enthusiastic crowd might have gone wild for a moment.
Maye’s reliance on his arm got him into trouble at times in college, but the fact that he’s already demonstrated a willingness to test tight windows on the field should allow the coaching staff to get a real sense of how explosive he could make his offense early in his rookie season.
As much as they’re giving him a chance to compete, he’s giving them a chance to get a real sense of his potential through his aggressiveness. And the fact that his aggressiveness on Wednesday didn’t result in turnovers (or passes that actually came close to turnovers) should be taken as a positive.
Maye’s overall athleticism was evident at times and impressed the coaching staff. His most impressive play was a pass-fake play (or “keeper” in the parlance of many Shanahan-adjacent schemes) when he rolled to his right but then stopped short so as not to stray into an oncoming defender. Without having his feet planted firmly underneath him, he threw a side-arm fastball toward Smith-Schuster for a gain of about 12 or 15 yards.
Maye also peeled off and ran at times, though it’s unclear how often he’ll be encouraged to do so, particularly in training camp when there’s no threat of quarterbacks being touched. On one of his runs, he went for it twice, didn’t like what he saw and left. On another, it appeared he made a read and then left the pocket.
While Brissett isn’t a stationary quarterback, Maye will likely be the player of the two who consistently seems to be able to get out of trouble better with his evasiveness.
Finally, it’s worth noting that, those two mistakes aside, Maye seemed to have a good grasp of the offense and the plays asked of him.
He didn’t seem fazed when watching the defense. During 7-on-7 work in particular, the ball came out with such alacrity that it seemed like he was making decisions before the snap and throwing the ball without doing much in the way of progression. After the workout, his teammates said he communicated plays in the huddle clearly and wasn’t afraid to checkdown; of his 10 competitive attempts during practice, five were quick.
On one play, Maye’s pre-snap work appeared to be solid. He motioned for running back Kevin Harris to come in from a wide alignment toward the backfield, which is typically a one-on-one zone indicator for a quarterback diagnosing an opposing defense. Maye noticed that none of the defenders on the other side of the line reacted to Harris’ movement, made a call from behind center, and used a hand signal to notify his teammates of his intentions.
The play resulted in a simple handoff to Harris, but it demonstrated an understanding of some of his pre-snap responsibilities.
IWhy patience is a virtue
In this section of the Drake Maye Report, we will highlight the parts of the rookie’s performance that would suggest he is… No pretty much set to sit atop the quarterback depth chart.
When Maye did run into obstacles, most of them came later in practice. That was also when the rain in Foxboro fell a little more steadily. It’s hard to know for sure if that affected him, but in a steady drizzle, he fumbled the ball from backup center Nick Leverett and missed a pass to Kayshon Boutte who was running wide open up the middle.
Maye’s hand size (just over nine inches, which ranks him in the 15th percentile of quarterbacks at the NFL Scouting Combine over the past two decades) and his ability to control the ball in inclement weather are worth paying attention to.
Maye made one or two decisions that might have been questionable. He threw the ball to Smith-Schuster with cornerback Isaiah Bolden right on the receiver’s back, leading to a deflection. And he tried Polk on a deep over with two defenders right on the open receiver.
But even that miss might have been smart on Maye’s part because he placed it in front of Polk in such a way that the catcher or no one else was going to get it.