Mazz: Concerned Patriots Might’ve Gone to Far in Opposite Direction With New QB
On Friday’s edition of Felger and Mazz, the guys react to North Carolina QB Drake Maye being drafted by the New England Patriots with the third overall pick, and a potential misstep that with the franchises strategy.
If This Kid Fails, It’s Going to be For Those Reasons…
Jim Murray: They did the right and logical thing and that doesn’t mean that I love Drake Maye. I’ve talked myself into Drake Maye. The guy I wanted was Jayden Daniels. But you know they screwed that up last year by winning those useless games in Pittsburgh and Denver. But I’ve talked myself into Drake Maye because I see the upside. I see the arm strength. I do think it’s gotten a little wacky here these last couple of weeks where there’s like, “well, he could be Josh Allen”. Arm strength-Sure. Speed and size, eh. You want to believe that? I think you’re sticking your head in the sand and like, avoiding certain things about this kid. He just doesn’t physically compare to what Josh Allen was even coming out of Wyoming. But I see the upside of him. I’m glad that they did this, but he’s no like-checks all the boxes guy. I’ve also heard that in the last 24 hours or so. Like he checks all the boxes? Does he? Who the hell knows? I just know he was highly rated. The little bit that I’ve seen, I like, but I don’t love. I talked myself into it. I see the upside. They swung for the fences. To me, this was the logical thing, and we’re not talking about J.J McCarthy on the Patriots thank god.
Felger: Mazz?
Mazz: Okay, so, you guys are both golfers. Let me ask you a simple question. You get on the tee box, you hit the ball to the left, it goes out of bounds. You put another ball on the tee. Where is it likely to go?
Jim Murray: Left.
Mazz: Right. Right. The opposite happens.
Jim Murray: Well, either way, it’s going into the woods.
Mazz: You overcompensate, it goes right. You hit one left, you put the ball on the tee, the next one goes right because you overcompensate. This is my one fear with with this kid because we all see the tools. Big body, big arm, he can run, and he’s an athlete. We don’t have to worry about a week-armed quarterback anymore. Which brings me to the last time they drafted a quarterback. What did they value? They valued the cerebral part of it. They valued the accuracy. They valued the line of scrimmage and the pre-snap. They valued all of that stuff. My one concern is that this is the counter reaction to the initial reaction. That they went too far in the opposite direction, and now they sat there, and I hope that in these meetings and all these discussions, they didn’t sit there and say- well, look, the last time we wanted a cerebral quarterback and a guy who could run the offense and put everything in place pre-snap. That’s what we wanted, and what did we get? We got a guy who couldn’t lead, who had a weak arm, who was a woose and who the other guys in the locker room hated. So what did they get this time? They got a big strong athlete who can throw, who can run, but he might need work at the line of scrimmage. He might not have the finer points down. He’s inexperienced. If this kid fails, it’s going to be for those reasons. It’s not going to be because of his physical tools. That’s my concern, is that in some way, the Patriots were so eager to avoid Mac Jones again, that they ended up with the exact opposite, which is a physically gifted quarterback who might not have all of the aptitude and mental tools to play the position.