Patriots rookie QB Drake Maye plays more, leads team to touchdown

Rookie quarterback Drake Maye led the New England Patriots to a touchdown, his first in the NFL. There might not be many touchdowns or much of Maye early in the regular season for the Patriots.

New England is being careful with the third overall pick. Part of that is the infrastructure around Maye isn’t conducive to success for a rookie quarterback. Maye hasn’t started either preseason game and is unlikely to start in Week 1 of the regular season. There will be plenty of calls for him to start the season opener. But the most likely outcome is Patriots fans will have to wait, hopefully and patiently.

On Thursday night against the Philadelphia Eagles, Maye got some more playing time than he did in an abbreviated appearance in the preseason opener. Maye completed 6-of-11 passes for 47 yards in two quarters of work. He had a few nice throws and a touchdown run on a read option near the goal line.

Patriots fans are used to greatness at quarterback, but not necessarily quarterbacks who can make plays running the ball.

Maye was fine in the Patriots’ second preseason game. He looked good on a few throws. He threw too high on a couple, including a second-and-11 pass in which he hesitated before releasing the ball. For Patriots fans, it was good to see him for more than a few plays. His best pass might have been an incompletion. Early in the third quarter he threw deep to rookie Javon Baker nearly 50 yards in the air. He threw it with ease and it was a nice ball, but Baker barely missed making a diving catch.

The important part was the throw itself, which was a good one. Maye didn’t do anything to disappoint.

Maye didn’t play much in the first preseason game. He threw just three passes. The reason Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo gave for the lack of action with Maye was that he wanted the rookie to work mostly with the starting line. That speaks to the Patriots’ issues; they don’t have enough depth to adequately support a rookie quarterback. That’s a reason Jacoby Brissett is expected to begin the regular season as New England’s starter. Brissett got the start on Thursday night against the Eagles and played the first three series.

Maye’s first series was solid. On third-and-5, he had a nice pass on an in-breaking route to Baker for a first down. He made an athletic play to get the ball away under immediate pressure and completed it for a gain. On a third down, later in the drive, he threw a nice deep pass, but it went through Baker’s hands on the sideline. Baker was forced out of bounds on his route anyway so it wouldn’t have counted. Still, it was a good throw by the rookie. The drive ended in a field goal, which wasn’t the worst outcome for Maye or the Patriots.

As the Patriots started to rotate offensive linemen on Maye’s next series the playcalling seemed to get safer to protect Maye, with more runs, quick throws and a screen (which was perfectly timed on third-and-11 and picked up 23 yards).

Maye began the second half. It started with a fumbled snap from center. He had the good deep throw to Baker that was incomplete. He had a couple of throwaways under pressure that hurt his stat line. He took a sack on third-and-10, which had to give the Patriots a nervous moment. That was his last play of the night.

Until the Patriots decide to give Maye the starting job in the regular season, it’ll be hard to evaluate him. He hasn’t done enough in the preseason to make many sweeping conclusions. That will come later.

There’s not much for Patriots fans to get excited for this season. Brissett is a reasonable veteran bridge quarterback but he won’t elevate the offense. He threw a terrible interception in the end zone on Thursday night and almost threw another under pressure on the next series. The performance of the offense in joint practices against the Eagles this week was reportedly quite bad, with the Patriots giving up way too many sacks. The Patriots’ best player was probably edge defender Matthew Judon, and he was just traded to the Atlanta Falcons for a third-round pick. The Patriots are a good choice to end up with the first pick of the 2025 NFL Draft.

But Maye provides something to look forward to this season. Eventually he’ll play, and the Patriots will hope that he doesn’t get his confidence ruined in a terrible environment. Maye has the skills to get the Patriots out of the doldrums, eventually.

When the Patriots decide to make the switch, we’ll get our first real chance to see if New England has its quarterback of the future.