Drake Maye, the rookie gun slinger of the New England Patriots, is on fire. As he steps into his second season in the NFL, he’s living up to the promise. The Patriots enter this season with a much different offense under new offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. They’re hoping to see Maye take a leap and be a more assertive, more forceful leader. This year, he’s throwing out the courtesy he extended to veteran Jacoby Brissett a year ago. Rather than continuing in this supporting role, he’s taking on a much more amplified role.
The entire team now shifts their focus to the upcoming mandatory minicamp. Aside from adjusting to a brand new offensive scheme, Maye is working on improving his communication with his offensive teammates. During a recent practice, head coach Mike Vrabel implemented a drill that required Maye to call out cadence across the field, ensuring that his voice resonated from sideline to sideline. That was an inflection point in his maturation as a quarterback.
“He has to call out the correct snap count before everyone runs a sprint,” said one observer of the drill. Even for a flick wheel, this exercise had lots of changeup pitches. Vrabel told Maye to play against a “dummy” snap count, testing his concentration and command even further.
As Maye enters this change, he goes into an increasingly competitive space. He currently sits behind veteran Joshua Dobbs and undrafted free agent Ben Woodbridge on the depth chart. Their presence not only provides competition but acts as a teacher. For Maye, this is an opportunity to prove that he’s locked in as the starter and show how his game has developed from last year.
Quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant noted, “I think Drake is doing a helluva job with a change from one offense to a new offense.” Grant’s praise is a testament to Maye’s willingness to adjust and learn, and his desire to get the hang of this new system.
Rhamondre Stevenson, an emerging star in the Patriots’ backfield, raved about Maye’s improvement. “He’s doing really well. He’s very smart. Works really hard,” Stevenson remarked. He echoed Maye’s enthusiasm, describing him as a leader who has that type of “oomph” to him.
This time last year, Maye was just looking for a break to land on. Cole Strange, an offensive lineman, reflected on that period: “This time last year, I was just learning how to walk.” Now, Maye stands more confidently at the helm of the offense during goal-line drills, taking charge and directing his teammates.
The transition has not come without its challenges. Learning a new offensive system is no easy task, but Maye has shown toughness and poise. His capacity to chew and internalize new information at a runaway train-like speed has wowed coaches and players, too. Stevenson highlighted this aspect of Maye’s skill set by saying, “Drake is doing a really good job of digesting the information and processing corrections.”
So as the Patriots prepare for their mandatory minicamp, all attention will really be focused on Maye. He’s motivated to further hone his craft and solidify himself as the best leader on the team. The rest of the team is certainly optimistic that all his recent work will pay off in big returns on the field this season.
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