Drake Maye in Phase 3 of NFL Concussion Protocol
As the New England Patriots begin preparation for their Week 9 matchup against the Tennessee Titans, rookie quarterback Drake Maye is in Phase 3 of the NFL’s Concussion Protocol.
As the New England Patriots begin preparation for their Week 9 game against the Tennessee Titans this Sunday, they will have all three quarterbacks on the field. However, rookie Drake Maye will be limited.
Maye suffered a concussion in last week’s game against the New York Jets, late in the first quarter. Head coach Jerod Mayo had since indicated Maye was in the NFL’s Concussion Protocol. Prior to the team’s first practice of the week on Wednesday, Mayo gave an update on Maye’s status.
“Drake is in the protocol. He’s in the protocol and he will be a limited participant today in practice. So in saying that, he will throw the ball at times in practice today, but he will be limited,” Mayo said. “There are people are a lot smarter than me as far as clearing people with concussions, and we’ll lean on our medical professionals and also the NFL league policy as far as getting him ready to play.”
Mayo later clarified that Maye would only be on the field for 30 minutes on Wednesday, indicating that the rookie is in Phase 3 of the NFL’s return-to-play protocol (outlined here). Teams can choose any 30-minute window for the player to participate, and Maye was not on the field for the beginning portion of practice open to the media.
Moving on to the next phase of the concussion protocol isn’t time-based, but symptom-based. In order for Maye to advance to Phase 4, he’d have to be “able to tolerate all football specific activity without a recurrence of signs or symptoms of concussion and his neurocognitive testing has returned to baseline,” per NFL.com.
That mean’s Maye’s status is still up in the air for Sunday. While it’s very rare for players to return to the field the next week following a concussion, Mayo said he’s confident Maye will be up to speed whenever he gets cleared.
“I do have confidence that if the league says he’s ready to play, that he will be able to go out there and operate,” Mayo said, adding, “I feel very comfortable putting Jacoby [Brissett] in there [to start] as he is a professional and always stays ready, as you could see from the last game.”
Brissett took over for Maye last week and completed 15 of his 24 passes for 132 yards, leading a late touchdown drive in the Patriots’ 25-22 win over the Jets. It was his first action since his last start in Week 5.
Mayo added that if Maye is inactive and Brissett does start, rookie Joe Milton III would be the backup quarterback. Milton, a sixth-round pick out of Tennessee, has been inactive but dressed as the emergency third quarterback in all eight games so far this year. Milton was one of the team’s six practice players of the week for his week of work leading up to last week’s win over the Jets.
Meanwhile the Patriots’ upcoming opponent is facing its own quarterback uncertainty. Starter Will Levis is still dealing with a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder. Backup Mason Rudolph has started the last two games. Last week he completed 22 of his 38 passes for 266 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in a 52-14 loss to the Detroit Lions. Titans head coach Brian Callahan told reporters on Wednesday that Levis will throw at practice this week, with the team taking a day-to-day approach to his status.
