Josh McDaniels addresses ‘complicated’ issue with Drake Maye’s sacks
Maye is taking a lot of sacks so far in his sophomore season, but McDaniels doesn’t necessarily see it as a problem to ‘fix’.
Drake Maye took accountability for the sacks he has taken this year when he spoke to the media Wednesday, telling reporters: “A lot of the sacks I have taken have been my fault. You know, been me holding the football…”
On Thursday, his offensive coordinator was asked how the sacks can be fixed. But Josh McDaniels doesn't agree with that word choice.
“I don't know that 'fixing' is the right phraseology, honestly,” McDaniels answered, “I think this is kind of a complicated solution.”
Maye has been sacked 34 times so far in the 2025 season. He trails only Titans quarterback Cam Ward (38) and has a healthy lead on the Chargers' Justin Herbert (28). McDaniels acknowledges the importance of finding balance for his second-year QB.
“I think that we’re trying to thread a fine line here of making those plays off-schedule, which everyone loves, including me, [Drake] does," McDaniels said. "And then doing something where we hang on to it a little longer than maybe we could and then incur a negative play or a turnover, which we don't want to. Obviously, we don't want to do those either.”
Maye has been sacked 12 times in the last two games, as Cleveland and Atlanta registered six sacks each. McDaniels made it clear that he doesn’t want to micromanage Maye’s use of his legs to extend plays, but also needs to find a balance to avoid giveaways like his second-quarter strip-sack against the Falcons.
“I think that he's made some really good plays with his legs and extended some things and made some good pass plays by extending the plays," McDaniels continued on Maye. "So, I don't think we want to over-coach that and take that away from him, which we're not doing. ... It's a hard thing to simulate in practice when you don't let anybody go and hit the quarterback when he's wearing a red jersey and you don't want anybody around his throwing hand. It's not as easy to practice as you wish it was.
"Me and [quarterbacks coach] Ashton [Grant] running at him with practice dummies doesn't necessarily do the trick. I think he's very well aware of his role in pass protection in general and what he wants to do.”
