FOXBOROUGH – Tuesday marked the media’s first look at the Patriots with the entire squad battling on the practice field.
It was the first chance to watch Drake Maye, and see first-hand how he was progressing in the early camps with new head coach Mike Vrabel at the helm and Josh McDaniels returning as offensive coordinator.
So at first glance, how did Maye look during the competitive reps the second day of OTAs?
Scary, as in bad, not good.
The Patriots franchise quarterback threw back-to-back interceptions during 11-on-11 reps not once, but twice.
What should we glean from that?
Well, here’s the snap judgment view: Maye is on his way to taking a step backwards in 2025 thanks to having to learn a new offense, with his second coordinator in as many years. That’s rarely a recipe for success.
While that take isn’t out of the realm, it’s just not that cut and dried.
Is it worrisome? Sure.
But it’s May. The regular season doesn’t start for another four months. Let’s not overreact to one OTA practice. As a rookie, Maye didn’t exactly light it up early on before hitting his stride later.
So while there’s concern, there’s no need to panic and write off Maye.
Tight end Hunter Henry, who spoke with the media following the workout, did a good job putting Maye’s day in perspective in terms of the trials of a young quarterback getting a handle on McDaniels system.
“I think he’s acclimating great. It’s a lot. And it’s really early. It’s only May, man,” Henry said with regard to Maye’s struggles. “We just got together a month ago and put this all in. So there’s a lot thrown at the wall right now that we’re trying to make stick.”
Henry played his first season with the Patriots with McDaniels in charge of the offense. While he knows the offense, there are still adjustments he has to make.
Maye is starting from scratch.
“I’ve been in this scheme, but I haven’t been in this scheme with all of these guys. So we’re trying to mesh … it takes time, man. It takes a lot of time,” the veteran tight end said. “On offense we’ve got to be in tune. We’ve got to be connected.”
Bottom line, it’s going to take some time.
After the first series, throwing his first pick to safety Dell Pettus, who looked like he was the receiver, and the second to Christian Gonzalez, who made a diving catch, Maye stood back and watched as Josh Dobbs took over.
Maye had his helmet raised up off his face, and had both hands on his hips.
It was easy to see the smoke coming out of his ears.
At first, quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant conversed with Maye. Then, it was Mike Vrabel. The Patriots coach spoke with Maye before he went back in for this next series.
Vrabel made a lot of gestures with his hands trying to get a point across. Soon, Maye got back under center.
After hitting Antonio Gibson and Hunter Henry with a couple of short passes to get a little confidence back, Maye was back on pick patrol.
Gonzalez got his second on Maye’s overthrow of rookie Kyle Williams, then rookie safety Craig Woodson made a catch on a ball intended for Henry, who appeared to be held.
The silver lining?
Throwing four picks on eight throws could mentally cripple plenty of quarterbacks. Granted, it’s wasn’t a game, but the response from Maye was encouraging.
He got back in the saddle, and finished strong, completing 7-of-his-next-8 passes.
And these weren’t easy dump offs. He threw a pair of perfectly thrown long balls, one to Williams, the other to Javon Baker with Gonzalez in coverage.
“I think he finished practice as good as you can especially with how things sometimes go when the ball doesn’t bounce the way you want,” Henry said. “That’s what football is. Things don’t always go your way. You gotta keep playing.”
That said, mistakes by Maye can’t be totally overlooked, especially if they evolve into a habit. Turnovers are killers, for any team, much less one that’s trying to emerge from back-to-back 4-13 seasons.
While Henry stressed that it’s early, he agreed that doesn’t necessarily excuse the mistakes.
“They all matter. I’m saying it’s early, but it’s early in the sense of … we can fix these things,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t want to put the ball in harm’s way. That’s probably the biggest priority in the league … turnovers win and lose football games in this league.
“So, that’s a huge priority of ours on offense that we have to be better at. We weren’t good at that last year. so we have to fix that now, for sure.”
Maye was one of the biggest offenders, throwing 10 picks versus 15 touchdown passes. He also put the ball on the ground nine times, losing six fumbles.
So it behooves him to kick the habit quickly.
If he throws four more picks during next week’s open OTA session, that would more troubling.
As in get the alarm bells ready.
