The Patriots are right to be patient with Drake Maye

In limited action this preseason, rookie quarterback Drake Maye gave New England Patriots fans something they have been missing the past few seasons.

Hope.

The third-overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft flashed several traits New England fans have been seeking at the position since the departure of Tom Brady: Athleticism, arm strength, creativity, subtle pocket movement, and toughness. While the numbers were not gaudy — Maye completed 21-of-34 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown over his three games — the film backed up the notion that New England just might have found their next franchise quarterback.

Take this play from New England’s third and final preseason game against the Washington Commanders, a 29-yard completion to fellow rookie Ja’Lynn Polk:

This is a fairly standard shallow crossing concept, with Maye operating from under center and New England using play action. After turning his back on the defense to carry out the run fake — a move that compresses his time to read the defense and decipher the coverage — Maye feels the pressure off the left edge, climbs in the pocket, and makes a perfect throw.

Just what you want to see from your rookie quarterback.

Or take this completion to DeMario Douglas on third-and-long to move the chains:

Maye hangs in a collapsing pocket, using his feet to create space, and then delivers a strike on another crossing route to pick up the first down.

Two plays later he would throw his first NFL touchdown pass.

However, despite the hope Maye offered during the preseason, and the traits he flashed in his limited action, New England is going in a different direction for Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season. Head coach Jerod Mayo announced on Thursday that veteran Jacoby Brissett will be their starter against the Cincinnati Bengals, with Maye relegated to a backup role.

That decision might be controversial, but it may be the best one for Maye.

Watching the New England offense against Washington, especially when Maye was in the game, another name came to mind.

David Carr.

Because while Maye was flashing these traits, he was doing so behind an offensive line that was struggling to protect both him and Brissett. There were fumbled center-quarterback exchanges, multiple hits on both passers, and Maye even completed a pass after one of his offensive linemen had stepped on his foot, removing his left cleat:

Carr, the first-overall selection in the 2002 NFL Draft by the expansion Houston Texans, was sacked a staggering 76 times in his rookie campaign, a mark that still stands as an NFL record. While that number dipped to just 15 sacks the next season — in part because Carr only played in 12 games — it ticked. back up to 49 in 2004, the highest in the league that season.

With Carr spending the majority of his first three seasons under pressure in the pocket, he never got quite comfortable in the pocket, and the struggles protecting Carr contributed in large part to the QB never living up to expectations in Houston.

Returning to the Patriots, while the team is going through a rebuilding cycle, if there is a glaring weakness at the moment it is their offensive line. Scores of New England beat writers have pointed to the OL as a problem, with longtime Patriots reporter Tom Curran describing the unit’s play as “disgraceful.” While Mayo himself described the concerns over the offensive line as “overblown,” he also offered this rather blunt description of the group ahead of roster cuts:

New England drafted Maye not just for Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season, but for hopefully the next ten — or more — Week 1s. Running him out there for the first week of this season behind a unit that has struggled mightily, and even got Brissett injured early in that final preseason game against Washington, is not a recipe for building a strong foundation for the rookie.

At some point, New England will want to get Maye onto the field this season. After all, the main goal for this year is to get to the upcoming offseason confident in the belief that Maye is indeed the franchise quarterback this organization has been seeking since Brady walked off the podium after a loss to the Tennessee Titans in the playoffs and never looked back. If the Patriots can enter the next offseason confident in Maye they can build around him — putting their nearly $90 million in cap space to good use — and load up for a true run next year.

But that plan does not work if Maye is shattered playing behind a porous offensive line.

The NFL is not known for patience, and part of the price with being a third-overall selection is that forces outside — and sometimes inside — the building want to see that player on the field. Back in New England’s first preseason game, on a rainy night against the Carolina Panthers, the Foxborough faithful booed after Maye made a brief cameo appearance. They wanted to see more of the highly-touted rookie.

But sometimes, patience is a virtue.

In this case, it might deliver the best possible version of Maye.