Patriots’ Drake Maye delivers highlights, lowlights in Pro Bowl game
For the second time in the last half decade, the Patriots sent their rookie quarterback to the Pro Bowl as an alternate. For Sunday’s Pro Bowl, Drake Maye competed in a flag football matchup that ended 76-63 in the favor of the NFC.
In the outing, Maye threw two touchdowns.
The first was a connection with the Bengals’ star receiver Ja’Marr Chase in the third quarter to make it 48-31 NFC. His second touchdown was thrown to Jacksonville Jaguars’ rookie Brian Thomas Jr. followed by a two-point conversion to cut the NFC lead to 48-39.
Maye did receive some criticism regarding his performance, because he threw two interceptions in the flag football game. Some critics discussed how the Pro Bowl game was a largely low-pressure game and pointed out the questions during the 2024 season regarding Maye’s turnovers — he had 15 in 10 starts (10 interceptions and five fumbles).
So, the continuation of turnovers in the Pro Bowl did not help to quiet those who criticize Maye’s ball security.
As mentioned before, this is the second time in four years the Patriots have sent a quarterback to the Pro Bowl. But other than pure physical talent, it’s hard to read into a flag football game. Mac Jones’ career started off quite strong as a Patriot and later declined over his next few years.
Patriots fans have to hope that Maye’s career will not follow a similar path as Jones did, as New England continues to rebuild in 2025.
Luke Graham is a digital sports content co-op for 98.5 the Sports Hub. He is currently a sophomore communications student at Northeastern University. Follow him on X @LukeGraham05.