Patriots Coaches Bet Big on Drake Maye in Key Areas of the Game

Drake Maye is undoubtedly the face of the New England Patriots and one of the most exciting young quarterbacks to enter the NFL in recent years. As he enters his third season, Maye is starting to earn the trust of his coaches, who are taking a chance on him to make significant strides in key areas of the game.

One of the most striking aspects of Maye's development is his willingness to learn from the great Tom Brady. Every so often, Maye sits down with his coaches and breaks out old Brady film. What are they looking for? A lot of the traits they want to instill in Maye. Quick decision. Smart calls. Accuracy.

The coaching staff, led by Josh McDaniels, who won three Super Bowls with Brady as his OC, is still around, and they're using this experience to help Maye grow. After a successful season last year, the experience has begun to blossom for Maye. During mandatory minicamp, the Patriots have started to give their 23-year-old captain a lot more freedom under center. They're trusting him plenty, and it's evident in how he's looked this spring.

'We're watching a lot of Brady film nowadays, and just seeing things he would get to (calling the play) and the reasons why,' quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant said. 'It's very neat when Josh speaks about something and pulls out a clip from 2008 vs. Rex Ryan's defense and is trying to show how it applied then, and how we can apply it now, and things we can take advantage of now.'

A lot of the tools have been here, but it's the application that may not have shown up last year, so we're just trying to refresh Drake's memory on when to use it, or just educate him on why and when he shouldn't,' added Grant.

Maye has looked the part, and is passing the test with flying colors right now. He's still looking for his first Super Bowl title and MVP award, the ones that Brady already possesses. Part of what the coaching staff wants to instill in Maye isn't just the abilities that the greatest of all time had. It's the knowledge — and confidence — that Brady exuded when he was throwing the ball.'

'It would be hard to pinpoint one thing. He's arguably the greatest quarterback to play the game, but the thing that stands out to me is just the conviction in which (Brady) operated the system,' Grant said.

For Maye, he's starting to gain that knowledge. The coaching staff is sending him into the huddle without a play call, only to have him get to the line and decide what's going to be called. Based on the defensive front or any coverage markers, the Patriots have given Maye the canvas to paint on.

'It seemed as if anything the defense presented to him, he had the answer at the tip of his tongue,' Grant said. 'It didn't seem like there was a lot of hesitation or confusion. He would call the play, break the huddle, see what the defense was presenting, and if it was something he liked, he'd put his foot on the gas and snap the ball. And if it was something he didn't, he changed it, and usually got to a good answer.'

To open up the spring, Maye has found an early connection with new wideout A.J. Brown. The star pass catcher has already helped form some chemistry on the field, similar to how quickly both Brady and Hall of Famer Randy Moss got on the same page in 2007.

The start to Maye's career has been wonky. From starting on the bench as a rookie in 2024 to leading his team to the Super Bowl a year later, Maye hasn't had the smoothest path to where he is now. Fast forward from his rookie season to today, and the face of the franchise is stacking days at a rapid pace.

'Year one when you're in a system, it's all about learning what to do, and how do you fit in the system,' Grant said. 'As you continue to grow through the system, it's how do I operate this at a high level. So I think we're trying to weaponize Drake's mind, and all the quarterback's minds as opposed to just being throwers of the football, we want to be operators of the offense.'

Maye has taken the coaching head on. He knows what he needs to get better at this season, and has earned the trust of his coaches to do so.

'The best thing that we've been trying to focus on is limiting negative plays,' Maye said. 'Negative plays in this league put you behind the chains, whether it's in the red zone, in base downs, and just trying to stay ahead of the chains and knowing that it's really on me to put us in good plays, get us out of bad plays, and stay ahead of the chains.'

With his confidence growing, and the coaching staff's trust in him, it's clear that Maye is on a mission to become one of the top quarterbacks in the league. Whether he will reach that goal remains to be seen, but with the progress he's making, it's exciting to think about what the future holds for this young quarterback.