When a rookie shows he’s ready, as Maye did in the preseason and even more so in practice as camp progressed, it’s usually an easy option to move the young quarterback in. There’s only so much he can learn on the bench, and most of these younger passers need the reps to get a feel for the game.
Who can deal with OL problems?
For the Patriots, it’s not just the quality of quarterback play that matters. The offensive environment plays an equally big role in deciding which quarterback starts the season.
New England’s biggest problem is the offensive line. According to ESPN’s pass blocking win rate, the Patriots had the worst pass blocking offensive line in the league last year. Things are unlikely to be much better in 2024. The planned starting lineup hasn’t played together yet and the preseason looked bad no matter who was on the field.
The assumption is that the veteran (Brissett) is better equipped to handle the weak offensive line and can lead the Patriots through a difficult early part of the season. But what if that’s not really the case?
What if Maye, despite his inexperience, was the better option behind the offensive line, giving the Patriots the opportunity to exploit more potential on offense?
According to TruMedia, Brissett was hit on 26.7 percent of his dropbacks in the preseason, the seventh-highest rate among quarterbacks with at least 10 pass attempts. He was sacked just once, but also took an average of 3.03 seconds to throw. That’s a long time to hold onto the ball, but something that’s par for the course in the play-action-heavy offense the Patriots plan to run under offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt.
Brissett has been able to avoid sacks for most of his career, but he’s no stranger to being hit. While he was a starter in Cleveland, he was hit on 16.7 percent of his dropbacks, slightly more than Deshaun Watson’s 16 percent, although Watson held onto the ball even longer.
There’s a chance that Brissett will hold the ball too long and take more hits, making the struggling offensive line even worse and making Maye less and less desirable.
Mayes pocket management is strong
Maye, on the other hand, has taken just two hits – one of which was a massive blindside sack against the Eagles – on just 5.4 percent of his dropbacks. That won’t be a sustainable rate for the regular season (Tyson Bagent had the lowest hit rate among players with at least 100 passes at 8.8 percent, followed by Tua Tagovailoa at 9.5 percent).
However, the way Maye dodged shots and positioned himself in the pocket to find shooting lanes underscored his growing confidence and allayed some of Maye’s pre-draft concerns.
Maye’s footwork was one of the biggest concerns for evaluators during the draft process. As can be the case with some of these big passers with rocket arms and the ability to move, their feet aren’t always in line with the rest of the body. This led to some inaccurate passes for Maye, but wasn’t a huge detriment to his game.
The footwork looked better, especially in the final preseason game when Washington’s second-team defense broke through New England’s offensive line. Maye was able to move and reposition his feet to avoid shots and find passing lanes.
Sometimes it was as easy as stepping into the bag when there was space:
