After just eleven NFL starts, Drake Maye has been crowned the next franchise quarterback in New England.
It is easy to be excited about a 22-year-old with the incredible raw talent and natural leadership that Maye showed in 2024. But as he enters his second professional season, it will be crucial for Patriots fans to be patient with the young quarterback.
This offseason, New England has made it a point to build around Maye with a more competent supporting class. They signed a true number-one receiver in Stefon Diggs and drafted offensive weapons TreVeyon Henderson and Kyle Williams in the second and third rounds.
They’ve also made it a point to protect Maye, addressing the most pressing need of offensive line with draft picks Will Campbell and Jared Wilson and free agent tackle Morgan Moses. The Patriots further committed themselves to Maye by trading away young backup Joe Milton III and signing veteran backup Josh Dobbs, leaving the roster devoid of any real competition at the quarterback position.
Drake Maye says hearing Will Campbell say he would “fight and die to protect my quarterback” on the stage at the draft made him “wanna go out there and play football now:”
“I listened to it live. I mean, it got the juices going…Pumped that we picked Will, and we had a chance to… pic.twitter.com/W13u40J3BX
— Tom Carroll (@yaboiTCfresh) May 1, 2025
While it’s clear that Maye is the guy in New England, that doesn’t mean he’s ready to light the league on fire. For quarterbacks, it is common to see a “sophomore slump” in their second year. After a Rookie of the Year campaign where he tossed over 4,000 yards and threw 23 touchdowns to only five interceptions, Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud had a less-than-stellar 2024 season. Stroud, hailed as a top-five quarterback and an MVP candidate, was called a “mid-range starter” and was considered regressing.
There are dozens of factors surrounding a quarterback that can cause a drop-off in play. For Stroud, he was dealing with one of the worst offensive line situations in the league and was without top weapons Diggs, Tank Dell, and Nico Collins for much of the season. Even still, the 23-year-old quarterback showed up in big moments and led his struggling Texans to a Wild Card playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
For Maye and the Patriots, learning from some of the challenges plaguing Stroud in his second year will be important. The moves to protect and support Maye are a start, but some road bumps will be unavoidable. A major one could be the adjustment to a new offense under Josh McDaniels.
In 2024, Maye displayed a special ability to extend plays and create out of structure, which contributed heavily to the excitement surrounding him. The next step for Maye will be commanding the offense and making plays on time within structure. McDaniels’ offense demands a quarterback who can diagnose a defense pre-snap and then move quickly through reads post-snap. This will be a good test for Maye and might very well take some time to perfect.
How effective are QBs at creating plays when they leave the pocket and operate out of structure?
The Josh Allen comp for Drake Maye is looking spot on at the moment. pic.twitter.com/oBEw40fh2O
— Steven Patton (@PattonAnalytics) October 17, 2024
That said, McDaniels would be failing the Patriots if he doesn’t cater his offense around Maye and his strengths. This would allow him to continue to use his legs and create big plays like he did last season. So far, this doesn’t seem to be a concern, as Maye told Mark Daniels of MassLive that McDaniels has “been great with asking about stuff I like.”
If Drake Maye struggles to start the season, that doesn’t mean it’s time to panic. It doesn’t mean he isn’t who we thought he was. It just means he might need more than one season to become a great NFL quarterback.
The reality is the Patriots were a very bad team in 2024. They have had a great offseason, bringing in Mike Vrabel and attacking positions of need, but these things take time to build, and it will be important to be patient— especially with the quarterback.
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