When will Patriots start Drake Maye? Inside the rookie’s development — and the factors that could lead to his promotion

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots staff ran out of time.

When they visited North Carolina’s Pro Day in March, Patriots coaches and personnel executives planned to review Drake Maye’s worst game with him and then his best.

Maye, who would become New England’s third overall draft selection within the month, had the pleasure of choosing which film to review.

But as the quarterback dove into a December loss to North Carolina State, he explained miscues in detail.

How did more than a quarter of the game elapse before Maye completed a pass? How did NC State leave the Tar Heels facing four three-and-outs and a lost fumble in their first five drives? Two interceptions would follow in the second half.

Maye delved so deep into the laundry list of lessons he learned that meeting that time ran out before the Patriots could break down his best game. And yet — his future employers had learned plenty.

“Some of the coaches sort of gave him the opportunity a couple different times to not shoulder the blame and to throw somebody under the bus and he just would not do it,” Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf told Yahoo Sports. “It was all, ‘No, this is something I could have done better. That’s on me for not getting him ready.’

“For a 21-year-old kid to be in a room where it’s not like we were bullying him, [but] we were giving him opportunities [to defer blame] and he was good. It was impressive.”

By no means did the Patriots select a quarterback third overall only because he’s accountable when things went wrong. The franchise gravitated toward Maye’s accuracy, athleticism and arm talent atop his leadership skills.

But as the Patriots enter an era in which coaches and general managers alike admit the work ahead, New England needed a quarterback committed to learning from mistakes and elevating a team at any stage of its life cycle, including what some would deem an offensive rebuild. They need a quarterback unafraid to…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-08-23 23:19:47

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