FOXBORO, Mass. — Drake Maye was the center of attention on Wednesday, and that won’t change anytime soon.
The rookie quarterback now has his first training camp practice under his belt, as the New England Patriots put in roughly 90 minutes of work in front of a sparse crowd and under rainy skies. It wasn’t an overly competitive practice, and you shouldn’t read too much into anything this early in camp, but Wednesday still gave us our first real look at the QB competition between Maye and Jacoby Brissett.
Drake Maye Solid in First Training Camp Practice
There Was Some Good
Maye, like Brissett, was just fine on Wednesday. He wasn’t asked to do too much and the team drills weren’t too intense. The Patriots also won’t be in pads until next Monday at the earliest.
I charted Maye as 2-for-4 with one sack in 11-on-11s and 4-for-6 in 7-on-7s. Brissett, who repped first and saw all the time with the first-team offense, went 5-for-7 with an interception in 11-on-11s and 5-for-6 in 7-on-7s. Head coach Jerod Mayo began the day by reaffirming Brissett as the projected starter.
Two of Maye’s best tools are his strong arm and mobility. We saw the latter on a nice boot-action pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster, and we saw the former on the play of the day: a beautiful 50-yard strike to Jalen Reagor, who made a ridiculous one-handed grab.
Drake Maye with the effortless deep shot 🎯
(via @patriots)
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There Was Some Bad
Maye was far from perfect.
He had a fumbled snap and a sack. He also badly underthrew a pass to Kayshon Boutte during team drills and also threw a rough incompletion into double coverage. There also were overthrows during individual drills.
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Of course, none of this is cause for alarm. It was the first practice, and Maye’s good plays ultimately balanced out the bad.
“He’s doing a good job, and he’s coming to work every single day,” tight end Hunter Henry said of Maye after practice. “Obviously, they got here a little earlier than us, but he did a great job in the spring. He does a great job in the meetings, and he’s learning a lot. He has a great vet in Jacoby in the room.
“He has some great coaches around him in AVP (offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt) and (quarterbacks coach) T.C. (McCartney), a lot of guys that are putting good things in his head, teaching him a lot of things, and a lot of things he can bounce off those guys to help.”
Maye Arrived Early and Stayed Late
Maye was the first quarterback on the field, walking up the stairs to the lower practice field roughly 15 minutes before the scheduled start time. He also was the last player off the field but stayed for a while to sign autographs.
Drake Maye walks to the autograph area after practice and starts his signing — fittingly — with a North Carolina jersey. pic.twitter.com/WsNesQgJtC
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) July 24, 2024
Obviously, these are good signs, but they hardly guarantee Maye will be a success. Mac Jones regularly showed up early and stayed late for Patriots training camp practices — and look how that turned out.
Nevertheless, Maye is doing all the right things.
There Wasn’t Much Fanfare
Speaking of Jones, despite the negativity that seemingly always surrounded him, he almost always was greeted by a loud ovation at training camp practices. Even last summer.
But Maye? Almost nothing.
The No. 3 overall pick barely heard any cheers as he ran onto the field. That was representative of the entire practice, which saw very little buzz for a training camp opener. There just wasn’t much juice from the crowd, which arrived late and petered out as the rain picked up after noon ET.
Drake Maye takes the field for his first training camp practice pic.twitter.com/4lSMwDcLhJ
— Dakota Randall (@DakRandall) July 24, 2024
The QB Competition Hasn’t Started Yet
Maye’s chances of beating Brissett aren’t great. But if he’s going to pull it off, it won’t happen during the first two weeks of camp.
Before we even can talk about a QB battle, Maye must clear three checkpoints:
- Play well consistently (he’s kind of doing this).
- See meaningful reps with the starting offense and starting defense (he hasn’t seen any).
- Continue playing well when he gets those reps.
So, when could Maye start putting it all together?
Keep your eyes on the Aug. 13 joint practice against the Philadelphia Eagles, who’ll play the Patriots two days later in a preseason matchup at Gillette Stadium. If Maye reps with the starters and plays well that week, he could have a real shot at winning the starting job.
Until then, be patient and temper expectations.