The return of the NFL was enough for many fans to tune in to Thursday’s preseason games featuring the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers, but the vast majority of fans were planning to see Drake Maye, who was selected No. 3 overall in the most recent NFL Draft.
Maye played, but barely. His professional debut lasted just six plays. One drive was all Patriots fans saw from their new franchise player, and fans voiced their opinion. This came right after Jacoby Brissett, the quarterback New England signed last offseason, also played just one drive.
The game may have been meaningless, but Patriots fans wanted to see as much of their quarterback of the future as possible. Who can blame them, considering the quarterbacks who have been in action since Tom Brady left?
Although it was frustrating that Maye got so little playing time, new head coach Jerod Mayo confirmed that the plan from the beginning was to give Maye (and Brissett) only one drive.
Jerod Mayo on the quarterback lineup for the first preseason game on Thursday night: “That was the plan from the beginning.”
Mayo talks about using both Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye for a series before turning the evening over to Bailey Zappe and Joe Milton III. @ABC6 #Patriots pic.twitter.com/1gEBTz26ld
— Nick Coit (@NCoitABC6) 9 August 2024
After hearing Mayo’s explanation of why Maye was limited to just one ride, his reasoning makes perfect sense.
“If he’s in, we want him in the starting lineup on the offensive line. We have to protect this guy.”
He is right. Maye is the player the Patriots must He may not be their starter in Week 1 of the regular season, but it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see him start in some games this season, and we know they plan on using him as their future at that position. Making sure Maye is healthy, especially in a preseason game, has to be their top priority, so realistically Maye should only be on the field with the starters on the offensive line.
“This is the first preseason game. We have two left. He will have plenty of opportunities to play against the other two teams before the regular season.”
Their plan was to simply ease Maye into the new season, and he did just that, completing two of his three passes for 19 yards and a first down. The drive stalled after that first down, but as Mayo said, there are two more preseason games. It certainly sounds like he’ll be playing a lot more in those games.
The important thing here is that Mayo got some playing time and left the game 100 percent healthy. Of course, the training wheels have to come off at some point, but they had no reason to let him play more than they did without the starting offensive line and in inclement weather. Assuming Mother Nature cooperates, Maye should show a lot more in his second game.
