Are the Patriots ready for Drake Maye?
On Thursday night in Foxboro the New England Patriots got some real glimpses of Drake Maye’s talent and potential to be a franchise quarterback. After an up and down training camp by most reports, Maye looked the part of the athletic, strong-armed, franchise quarterback the Patriots drafted.
When Maye was selected third overall, he was viewed as more of a project than some of the other first round quarterbacks because of his footwork and lack of experience. However, Maye has already started to turn heads in Foxboro and fans are itching for their next franchise quarterback after the failed Mac Jones experience.
So while Maye’s timeline may be moving forward quicker than expected, I’m not sure the Patriots roster is ready for him. I’m someone that believes Drake Maye should sit for most of the year, even after seeing his progress from when he was drafted until now. The reason why has very little to do with Maye himself and a lot to do with the Patriots roster.
We’ve seen far too often teams take a quarterback high in the draft and try to turn their franchise around overnight by starting the kid. Most of the time that’s a recipe for disaster. Even some of the better young quarterbacks like Joe Burrow started right away, but because of his bad roster and terrible offensive line, he was sacked constantly and ended up getting hurt.
The Patriots have a bottom five roster in the NFL. Asking a rookie quarterback to go out and start on a weekly basis behind this offensive line would be a tall order for any rookie quarterback, never mind one that was viewed as a work in progress heading into the draft. Maye has all the tools and has done everything right since he stepped foot in the Patriots organization, but the fear as a Patriots fan is that they rush starting him and end up doing more harm than good.
I get that fans want to see Drake Maye play, I want to see Drake Maye play too, but with this roster and the team’s schedule this season, I believe the risk outweighs the reward. Fans will point to his pocket presence and arm strength against the Eagles as reasons why he should start and I’d agree they were impressive. However, it was still preseason and the Eagles weren’t playing a lot of their defensive starters for the time Maye was in the game.
It’s good to be excited about Drake Maye and want him on the field, but head coach Jerod Mayo and the Patriots front office made it a point early in camp to say that Jacoby Brissett was the starter and Drake Maye would work his way in. Now after two preseason games Jerod Mayo has made comments on how the quarterback competition is real and it feels as though there’s a possibility we see Maye earlier than anticipated.
So the Patriots have a decision to make. Do they risk playing the talented rookie to try and sneak out a few more wins this year and speed up his development? Or do they think the risk outweighs the reward too greatly and let Brissett start for the majority of the season, saving Maye for when they can surround him with better talent and a more competent offensive line?
