FOXBORO – Drake Maye is fighting against time as much as he is fighting Jacoby Brissett in the Patriots’ ongoing quarterback competition.
Maye has yet to see much of a first-team appearance in the Patriots’ final days of training camp, but he has begun playing alongside the starting offensive linemen over the past two days and has played better than Brissett since Thursday’s preseason loss to the Eagles.
Maye completed 10 of 15 team drills overall, 5 of 6 in 11-on-11 drills and 5 of 9 in 7-on-7 drills. Brissett, meanwhile, completed 10 of 19 overall, 6 of 11 in 11-on-11 drills and 4 of 8 in 7-on-7 drills.
Wide receiver KJ Osborn, who caught a high-point pass on a corner route over cornerback Marcus Jones after a throw from Maye, believes the rookie QB is “definitely making progress.”
“Drake has a different kind of confidence and leadership. He’s a rookie, so he’s still learning, but he’s also a quarterback and a really smart guy. His locker is next to me and (Brissett), so he asks questions, or we talk, or he comes to the side and we talk about stuff.”
The Patriots have one more “training camp” practice on Monday before having a day off on Tuesday. The team will use practices on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in preparation for their season finale against the Commanders on Sunday, which is the equivalent of a normal week of practice.
The Patriots will likely have the competition for the starting quarterback decided after the third and final preseason game, if not sooner. The Raiders announced their starting quarterback for Week 1 on Sunday.
Brissett is still the clear favorite to start against the Bengals in three weeks in the first week of the regular season, but nothing is set in stone and the veteran has not yet outperformed the competition.
Brissett completed just 3 of 7 passes for 17 yards and an interception in the red zone in Thursday’s preseason game, which head coach Jerod Mayo called a “terrible play.” Brissett completed 9 of 13 passes in Saturday’s unequipped practice, while Maye completed 11 of 13.
Eliot Wolf, the Patriots’ executive vice president of player personnel, particularly praised Maye’s performance on Thursday.
“Drake is very conscientious,” Wolf said before practice on Sunday. “He takes all the coaching points. He tries to do everything perfectly. It was really nice to see him go out there the other night and just play ball instead of thinking about these things.”
Brissett started Sunday’s 7-on-7 red zone games with 0-of-4 hits and a coverage sack, but didn’t get much help from his receivers, who weren’t creating any space.
Maye completed 3 of 5 passes to Osborn and wide receivers Tyquan Thornton and Javon Baker. He failed to complete a fade to Baker and threw the ball away on another replay.
The Patriots then brought in linemen for 11-on-11 plays in the red zone. Brissett was 1 of 2 while Maye was 2 of 3 on completions to rookie wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk and rookie tight end Jaheim Bell.
Substitutes Bailey Zappe and Joe Milton III, who appear to still be battling for third down, both completed a pass. Milton’s pass to Baker was also incomplete.
Brissett improved in his next 7-on-7 set, completing 4 of 4 to wide receivers DeMario Douglas, Jalen Reagor, Osborn and Polk. His completion to Polk was a diving catch down the sideline. Maye completed 2 of 4 to Douglas and wide receiver Kayshon Boutte. His two incomplete passes were deeper passes to Baker and Boutte that were intercepted by cornerbacks Alex Austin and Marcellas Dial.
The Patriots ran three more rounds of 11-on-1 drills. Brissett was 1-on-1 on a pass to Douglas in the first round, while Maye suffered a sack on his only dropback. Milton completed his only attempt further down the field to wide receiver Kawaan Baker, who caught the ball over Dial’s helmet on a short-thrown go route.
Brissett then went 1-of-1 with two sacks on his next play, while Maye went 3-of-3 with the sideline completion to Osborn and two more catches from Boutte and Douglas.
Brissett finished things off with an 11-play drive that included four handoffs. He completed 3 of 7 passes with two throws away. He also threw high to Douglas and a pass intended for Polk was intercepted by Austin. His completions went to Polk (two) and Thornton.
When asked how close Maye was to being deployed, Wolf did not give a clear answer.
“We’ll see,” he replied. “He didn’t have a lot of snaps in the first game either. He did pretty well on his snaps the other day. It’s about building on those successes and seeing where we go.”
Mayo said Friday he wants the entire offense to continue to tighten up, which means he’ll play in Sunday’s preseason game against the Commanders. That should perhaps give Maye one last chance to prove he deserves to start in Week 1. If he can’t push the issue further, Brissett will play quarterback against the Bengals.
