Patriots need Drake Maye to be Tom Brady replacement
On Wednesday’s Zolak & Bertrand program, the guys discuss Drake Maye’s future, live from New England Patriots training camp.
Drake Maye Timeline
Parts of conversation abbreviated for clarity.
Zolak: Drake Maye is not a luxury pick. It is a need pick. It is a massive need pick. We’re still sitting here five years after the departure of Tom Brady still looking for the guy that will replace him.
And we don’t know if it will be Drake Maye. And if it’s not Maye, then that’s a really bad pick. He never called a play in an NFL huddle. Like, I go back to the Hard Knocks stuff with Brian Daboll. I was very impressed with that.
I ran a couple of different offenses and the terminology is very different. But just with that one five-minute sit down with Daboll, the Giants fell in love with him. That’s why they ran to Eliot Wolf to see if he would give up the 3rd overall pick. They wanted the Patriots to call them if they were going to make a trade.
Mark Dondero: Meanwhile, Jayden Daniels, what did he say during that meeting? “I’m gonna throw a touchdown.” Which is a bad answer, right?
Zolak: That’s part of the excitement with Drake Maye. And he brings the energy in a Gronkowski-type way. He seems like a guy excited about football. I think his energy and enthusiasm will be infectious within the team.
What will be the hardest part? If Maye looks but is sitting on the bench and the team is still losing games, that’s where players start questioning things. They’re not going to be able to fool the team. They can fool all of us. They can fool all the shows, the broadcast partners, and the fans. But you can’t fool the 53 guys in the locker room.
Things could wind up being like last year where the defense was playing their asses off. And that defense got sick of Mac Jones turning the damn ball over. They all became Zappe guys because at least he went out there and battled his ass off.
The team knew they at least had a chance with Zappe because he didn’t turn the ball over. That’s when the quarterback switch came. Belichick could tell and he had enough. He didn’t want to lose the locker room by playing a bad quarterback.
It could get to the point again if Jacoby Brissett doesn’t play well out of the gate. The story isn’t Brissett versus Maye, Milton, or Zappe. This is about Drake Maye versus time. He’s fighting the clock down there in Foxboro.
So, when that clock’s right and he’s ready, that’s what he plays. It’s not about waiting for Jacoby Brissett to have an injury or something. Or, for Brissett to have a bad game. None of that. When he’s ready and you feel it, then you go. You have to play him.
Segment Audio
Ryan Beaton is a producer for 985thesportshub.com. You can follow Ryan at @ry_beaton on Twitter.
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