The Drake Maye Report: Rookie QB flashes big-time traits on Day 1

The Drake Maye Report: Rookie QB flashes big-time traits on Day 1 originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Editor’s Note: After each training camp practice, Phil Perry will provide an in-depth breakdown of Drake Maye’s day — complete with the No. 3 overall pick’s snap counts, passing stats and the pros and cons from his performance — in The Drake Maye Report.

FOXBORO — Drake Maye simply has to hit.

For a franchise looking to pull itself out of its post-Tom Brady nadir. For a fanbase looking to sink its teeth into anything that gets it excited. It falls on the rookie quarterback and those surrounding him tasked with maximizing his abilities.

It’s stating the obvious. But the scene at Day 1 of Patriots training camp was a reminder of the stakes for Maye, his coaching staff, the Kraft family, and those supporting them.

The first summertime practice of the post-Bill Belichick Era was a quiet one when it comes to the juice fans brought to the fields behind Gillette Stadium. Hard to blame them. It’s a team lacking star power coming off a 4-13 season that hasn’t won a playoff game in five years.

But the few pops of energy on Wednesday emitted from fans in attendance were generated by the one player in whom this fanbase has invested more of its hope than any other.

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When Maye took the field for the first time, draped in his bright red No. 10, there was some buzz. When he hit JuJu Smith-Schuster on a roll-out pass in front of the bleachers along the right sideline, there was a burst of oohs. When he floated a long pass to Jalen Reagor that was reeled in with one hand, there was a momentary uproar.

It wasn’t all perfect for Maye. But on his first day of camp, for this new-look franchise, Maye’s impressive physical gifts and little else have the ability to concoct some level of palpable enthusiasm from a crowd thirsty for good football.

Let’s get into the details of Maye’s Day 1…

The rep breakdown

One day after head coach Jerod Mayo stated that Drake Maye would have an opportunity to wrestle the starting quarterback job away from Jacoby Brissett, he followed through by providing Maye a relatively even split of competitive repetitions with his veteran teammate.

While Brissett was clearly the top quarterback at practice — he worked with the top offensive line and was first up in every competitive period of practice — Maye was clearly the No. 2. When the practice was split in two for 11-on-11 work, Brissett and Maye worked on one field with the team’s top offensive and defensive players. Bailey Zappe and Joe Milton, meanwhile, took the adjacent field with players who’d be considered further down the depth chart.

Brissett saw 11 snaps of 11-on-11 work and six snaps of 7-on-7 looks. For his part, Maye was given 10 snaps of 11-on-11 work and six snaps of competitive 7-on-7 action. Essentially a 50-50 split.

While it was Brissett who ran with the starters along the offensive line, Maye saw his fair share of plays to make an impression on his coaching staff. It was the kind of workload, if it continues, that would suggest the staff isn’t preparing him for a “redshirt year” no matter what.

He’s going to be given a chance to compete for the gig.

Crunching the numbers

Maye went 6-for-10 with his competitive reps. He had two 11-on-11 snaps that resulted in quarterback scrambles, and he fumbled a snap late in the practice.

Brissett went 10-for-13 with an interception that was deflected by Jonathan Jones and picked off by Kyle Dugger.

Play of the day

Maye had an opportunity to show off his ability to generate easy RPMs when he smoothly aired out a fade along the right sideline to Jalen Reagor. It must’ve come as the result of some kind of pre-snap look for Maye, who likely noticed that the wideout would be checked in single-coverage by young cornerback Azizi Hearn. The ball was out quickly and placed on a trajectory that allowed Reagor to use his speed to run underneath the shot opportunity.

Reagor’s one-handed grab about 40 yards down the field was what made the highlight-reel play, but Maye’s deep accuracy — not to mention his willingness to quickly and confidently launch it down the field — had to be encouraging for the Patriots coaching staff. That was one of the qualities that made Maye worthy of the No. 3 overall pick back in April.

Why he’s ready

Brissett remains the choice as the likely Week 1 starter for the Patriots, but in this section of The Drake Maye Report, after every training camp practice, we’ll highlight the portions of the rookie’s performance that would suggest he’s prepared to sit atop the hierarchy of quarterbacks in New England sooner rather than later.

Maye’s deep shot to Reagor wasn’t his only accurate throw down the field. On the very next snap after that explosive outburst came another near-hit. Looking down the left sideline, with fellow rookie Ja’Lynn Polk in tight coverage, Maye launched one along the sideline that glanced off Polk’s hands and fell incomplete out of bounds. Had the pair connected there, the still-buzzing crowd might’ve gone briefly berserk.

Maye’s confidence in his arm got him into trouble at times as a collegian, but the fact that he’s already shown a willingness to test tight windows down the field should allow the coaching staff to get a real sense of how explosive he could make their offense early in his rookie season.

As much as they’re allowing him the opportunity to compete, he’s giving them an opportunity to get a real sense of his potential thanks to his aggressiveness. And the fact that his aggressiveness on Wednesday didn’t result in any turnovers — or any throws that really approached turnover-worthy — should be taken as a positive.

Maye’s overall athletic ability showed up at times and impressed the coaching staff. His most impressive play on the move was a play-action bootleg — or a “keeper” in the parlance of many Shanahan-adjacent schemes — when he rolled to his right but then stopped short so as not to drift into an oncoming defender. Without his feet set underneath him, he ripped a sidearm fastball to Smith-Schuster for a gain of about 12 or 15 yards.

Maye also took off and ran at times, though it’s unclear just how often he’ll be encouraged to do that — particularly in camp when there is no threat of quarterbacks being touched. On one of his runs, he pumped twice, didn’t like what he saw and took off. On another, it looked like he made one read and then bailed on the pocket.

While Brissett is not an immobile quarterback, Maye will probably be the player of the two who consistently looks like he can better get himself out of trouble with his escapability.

Lastly, it’s worth pointing out that — those two scrambles aside — Maye seemed to have good command of the offense and the plays that were called.

He didn’t look perplexed surveying the defense. During 7-on-7 work in particular, the ball was out with such alacrity that it looked like he made pre-snap decisions and delivered the football without going through much in the way of a progression. After the workout, teammates said he communicated plays in the huddle clearly, and he wasn’t afraid to take a checkdown; of his 10 competitive attempts during the practice, five were quick-hitters.

On one play, Maye’s pre-snap work looked to be sound. He motioned in running back Kevin Harris from a wide alignment into the backfield — often a man-zone indicator for a quarterback diagnosing an opposing defense. Maye noticed that none of the defenders across the line reacted to Harris’ movement, made a call from behind center, and used a hand signal to notify his teammates of his intentions.

The play resulted in a simple hand-off to Harris, but it showed an understanding of some of his pre-snap responsibilities.

Why patience is a virtue

In this section of The Drake Maye Report, we’ll highlight the portions of the rookie’s performance that would suggest he’s not quite ready to sit atop the quarterback depth chart.

When Maye hit speed bumps, they mostly came later in the practice. That also happened to be when the rain in Foxboro fell a little steadier. Hard to know for sure if that impacted him, but with a steady drizzle coming down he fumbled a snap from backup center Nick Leverett and he skipped a pass to Kayshon Boutte running open over the middle.

Maye’s hand size — just over nine inches, placing him in the 15th percentile of quarterbacks at the NFL Scouting Combine over the last two decades — and his ability to control the football in inclement weather is worth keeping an eye on.

Maye made what might’ve been a questionable decision or two. He threw to Smith-Schuster with corner Isaiah Bolden right on the receiver’s back, leading to a deflection. And he tried Polk on a deep over with two defenders right on the wideout.

But even that incompletion might’ve been a smart one on Maye’s end because he laid it out in front of Polk in such a way that either the receiver was going to get it or no one else was.