The New England Patriots have the opportunity to take a major leap forward this season, but only if quarterback Drake Maye is up to the task.
Maye, the third pick in the first round of last year’s draft, was impressive as a rookie on an overmatched Patriots team. This year, with an experienced head coach in Mike Vrabel and an improved offense around him, expectations are high for the 22-year-old.
There’s only so much one can glean from the preseason, but performance reviews for Maye have been unenthusiastic at best.
On Monday, Greg A. Bedard was particularly critical of Maye’s performance in the Patriots’ 20-12 preseason win over the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday.
“Overall, Maye was tentative throwing the ball, wasn’t seeing the field right, and his mechanics were poor on the high passes,” Bedard wrote.
Perhaps most consequentially, Maye wondered if Maye was destined to follow one of the more undesirable patterns from an otherwise-great NFL signal-caller, Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer Brett Favre.
“Maybe Maye is one of these quarterbacks, Brett Favre was similar, where they are too amped up for the game, and that causes issues,” Bedard wrote. “The playcallers had to adjust to that. Maye was asked about that after the game.”
Maye himself addressed the shaky results.
“I don’t think we want to dial it down,” Maye said, per Bedard. “We’re out there, we’re keeping score. We’re trying to win. I miss (wideout DeMario Douglas) high, same thing, he’s wide open sitting in a zone out there.
“So just (a) couple plays to have back, but the guys up front blocked well. It’s preseason, but these guys are still trying to come tackle us and stop us, so we’re trying to go down to score.”
The Patriots’ preseason finale comes Thursday at MetLife Stadium against the New York Giants. As of early Wednesday afternoon, it had not been announced whether Maye will play. New England’s regular-season opener is Sep. 7 against the Las Vegas Raiders.
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