Drake Maye discusses 4 interception practice from OTAs

On Monday the New England Patriots moved on from the OTA portion of the offseason workout program to mandatory minicamp. Despite that one major storyline from OTAs was still brought out - Drake Maye's four-interception practice at the start of the spring.

That was in the first open OTA practice of the spring, and the second practice overall for the Patriots during this period.

While he's gotten progressively better since - he hasn't had a turnover in any of the four practices that have been open to the media since that one - it's still a topic that has come up repeatedly as Maye tries to learn Josh McDaniels' offense after spending one year in a West Coast system.

There's also the fact that in the spring, players are often running new unfamiliar concepts (especially those learning a new system) and testing different things they may not want to do in a more competitive setting. That's what Maye brought up when he was asked about the four-interception day after Monday's practice.

"I think there's a balance between trying things out and turning the football over," he said. "You can take that stuff with a grain of salt, but at the same time, you don't want to turn the football over and get in bad habits. I feel like I've done a good job of trying to keep the football in our hands, and that's one of our key focuses."

The day does seem to have stuck with Maye though, as even three weeks later he still was able to go through it pick-by-pick.

"Going back to that day, a deep one, Gonzo fell off. Gonzo made a good play," Maye recalled. "The other one, they bring cover zero, and you just got to have cover zero answers in this league. I learned with that one. I think Hunter [Henry] got held on one."

Still, Maye feels like he's made progress throughout the spring since that practice when it comes to picking up the new offensive system.

"I think it's feeling good. I think we’re catching the stride," he shared on Monday. "I think you got to take the meetings and what you learn from when you do get a chance to run the plays, just take it and take it in the next time you run it. It's all the same concepts in the league, but it's different verbiage. Mostly same guys running them, but just feeling out how they run it, timing and just getting different concepts. I think it's been good. I think I'm starting to find a stride. I'm bummed out we're about to leave, but it's fun."

There's one more practice before Maye and the Patriots 'leave' for the summer. After Tuesday's minicamp they'll have a non-practice team event on Wednesday, then break until the start of training camp in late July.