Heading into the beginning of the 2026 season, it is virtually troublesome to consider that some members of the NFL group instructed roughly 12 months in the past that New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye hadn’t “fully accepted” all that it meant to function the undisputed chief of his offense.
Extensive receiver A.J. Brown joined the Patriots after they acquired him from the Philadelphia Eagles
in early June. As Nicole Yang of the Boston Globe shared in a bit printed on Friday, Maye impressed Brown all through the primary couple of months of their working relationship.
A.J. Brown: Drake Maye is “an unimaginable chief”
“It’s loopy to see at a younger age,” Brown not too long ago stated about Maye. “He’s like, ‘Come on, I would like you,’ on a regular basis. He’s pushing all of us. He’s an unimaginable chief. I’ve been bragging on him. When he speaks, numerous guys, , they’re locked in. That’s very particular. To be so younger and to have the eye of the room. He is aware of the offense, he is aware of the protection, so he’s simply demanding greatness. As a result of he is aware of what everybody has, so that you higher know.”
The Patriots employed head coach Mike Vrabel shortly after Maye’s rookie season wrapped up. Within the spring of 2025, Vrabel and Patriots govt vice chairman of participant personnel Eliot Wolf publicly made it recognized that they needed Maye to develop as a pacesetter and because the CEO of the New England offense.
Maye in the end proved to be all that Vrabel may have requested for and extra, because the 2024 first-round draft choose guided the membership to what turned a Tremendous Bowl LX loss to the Seattle Seahawks en path to ending second in 2025 MVP voting behind Los Angeles Rams star Matthew Stafford.
All through 2026, Maye has repeatedly mentioned how the Tremendous Bowl defeat was a “humbling” expertise that he endured as a result of he and the offense didn’t put sufficient “factors on the board.” As Yang famous, Maye was typically noticed talking with “his teammates first” between observe reps this summer season, in comparison with how he “would instantly contact base with the teaching workers” between reps a 12 months in the past.
Drake Maye able to take Patriots to “a distinct stage” after Tremendous Bowl journey
“I feel it’s pure if you’re within the second 12 months of an offense, and you are feeling like what you’re speaking about, and you place a 12 months on tape the place you’re feeling such as you did some good issues and knew what you had been doing more often than not,” Maye stated about his general development. “I feel there’s areas for me to take the fellows on offense, particularly, and produce them to a distinct stage and elevate their recreation, elevate my recreation, and form of bleed that into the protection and the entire staff.”
Throughout springtime exercises, Maye acknowledged that opening the season with a Tremendous Bowl rematch on the Seahawks on Sept. 9 was “an opportunity for us to get some further motivation throughout coaching camp.” Now that camp’s accomplished, he appears able to take the following step in his improvement.
“I’m not taking with no consideration my accountability for this staff — the ability and the pure respect you get for enjoying my place,” Maye not too long ago stated.
