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It was a turbulent world for the celebrated quarterback class of 2024. One minute you’re impressing all the scouts with your pleated khaki pants:
And the next moment you are undergoing meniscus surgery:
… and set your development back a year.
That’s the life of a rookie QB, especially one who was drafted high. You come into the league, you have a lot to learn, and you have very little time to learn it all.
That’s why, for example, I complained about the few snaps my highly drafted rookie got in his only preseason game. A number that was reflected in these measly 19 passing yards:
But things change quickly in training camp. They can attack you like they did with JJ McCarthy, or you get a real chance to show what you can do, like Maye did in joint practices against Philly’s defense. Although you don’t get any help from the substitutes you went up against:
Patriots.com – Maye began practice a perfect 9-of-9 in 7-on-7 games and full-team drills. The third-round pick connected twice with fourth-round rookie WR Javon Baker, including a pretty deep ball on a go route early in the session.
That’s the good news. The bad news is less about Maye and more about the general chaos of a ragtag offense that’s still trying to figure out what it is. With three sacks in one down set, the team totaled 14 sacks on the day. And that wasn’t all:
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(T)he offense also received nine penalties from the referees present, had two bad snaps and a botched transition on a running play. …
Things got shaky, however, when the offense moved into the red zone to play more 11-on-11. In the red zone sequence, Maye failed to connect with WR Ja’Lynn Polk on a slot fade, a block was blown in the backfield, and then Baker failed to keep his feet in the field of play as he ran through the back of the end zone after Maye was able to evade some pressure.
As the offense moved back to the middle of the field, the Patriots were under more pressure and were given penalties. Maye’s two-minute drill went like this: sack of Nolan Smith, a team sack incomplete on a covered comebacker to Boutte, and a sack of LB Nakobe Dean on fourth down. Maye took responsibility for the shaky rush offense, but it was a failure of the entire team.
So, overall, it’s a far, far cry from what the Pats players and coaches expected, or what fans who showed up in large numbers for a weekday practice while still suffering from PTSD from watching them finish last in the league in points expected.
But training camp in 2024 isn’t about sacks, penalties, bad snaps, botched turnovers, botched screen passes, or receivers getting their feet on the ground. It’s not even about 2024, really. It’s about getting Drake Maye ready to face tougher competition than he faced against Syracuse, Duke, Clemson, or NC State. The rest of it definitely needs to be cleaned up. Pass protection, especially, or Eliot Wolf will spend the entire season scouring the waiver list for other teams’ castaways, like an inferior army putting old men and teenagers in uniforms that don’t fit them.
But Maye is just a priority. The prime directive is to establish him in the league enough to build a team around him in 2025 and beyond. And the first time he got more than a half-dozen chances against a Super Bowl contender’s defense, he shot 9-of-9, hit one of his key rookie wideouts deep, escaped the pocket to throw a precise pass into the end zone and showed he can handle that level of competition.
Perhaps more importantly, he took responsibility for the mistakes that were not his fault. That’s what the greats do. And in doing so, he proved that Mr. Kraft was right when he talked about Maye’s “values,” “fundamentals,” and “foundation.”
Of course, I’m as worried as anyone about using him as a center behind an O-line that was so completely inept at defending passes when they played the Eagles on Thursday night (not really). If what happened to McCarthy happened to Maye, it would derail the Patriots’ entire plan to become respectable again. But they can’t bench him again like they did last week and expect his learning curve to flatten out. Now it’s time to prove to the world that Drake Maye will be ready, and soon.
Especially for Drake Maye. This was just the beginning of his rise to becoming the franchise QB. Mark my words.
