Patriots minicamp notes: Drake Maye has his best day yet

Patriots minicamp notes: Drake Maye has his best day yet originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston

After ending voluntary OTAs last week, the New England Patriots took the field on Monday for Day 1 of mandatory minicamp.

As has been the case throughout the spring, rookie quarterback Drake Maye was the center of attention. The third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft once again served as the second QB on the depth chart behind veteran Jacoby Brissett. Barring any surprises, that will be the case when training camp begins later this summer.

The Patriots canceled Tuesday’s training for a day of community service for players and coaches. They will have one last day of mandatory training on Wednesday before the summer break.

So how did Maye do in her penultimate workout before the six-week break? Our Patriots insiders Phil Perry and Tom E. Curran participated in Monday’s session in Foxboro and shared their takeaways in a new episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast.

Patriots Talk: Patriots minicamp begins and Drake Maye continues to impress | Listen and subscribe | Watch on youtube

“When Phil and I were coming off the field and talking about this, I said, ‘I can’t tell from these practices whether they’re good, whether they’re not good. I have nothing to compare it to.’ So, when there are a lot of shots, like there were today because they did a lot of rushing, 11 on 11 and 7 on 7, two-minute drills where there were penalties… It was a little more risky,” said Curran.

“Drake Maye had a good day. Jacoby Brissett remains a better option. He looks as good as, if not better than, Drake Maye, who had his best day.”

Perry noted that while Maye’s development has been encouraging, the offense still has a long way to go.

“There were times when it (didn’t) look great offensively,” he said. “They ran their rush period at the end of practice and basically nobody scored. In six or seven rush attempts, I think we saw a field goal scored. one thing I think I can take away from this is that the defense is still the Patriots defense, which is still very good and there’s not a lot of room to operate offensively, I think we all still need a little time. to wrap our arms around him.”

Perry came away from Monday’s training more impressed than Curran with Maye’s performance.

“One thing I disagree with you on a little bit: I think Drake Maye was the best quarterback on the field today,” he said. “I think he can do some things that started to become clear that Jacoby Brissett wouldn’t do.

“(Brissett) will be cleaner and he definitely understands what’s going on better, but if you came from Mars today and watched, you wouldn’t know that Jacoby Brissett knows the offense better than Drake Maye because there weren’t a lot of moments where it was like , ‘Oh, the newbie clearly didn’t know what to do there.'”

You can hear Curran and Perry’s conclusions in the full podcast episode.

Noteworthy Quotes

Veteran center David Andrews told reporters, including our own Phil Perry, that he hopes to finish his New England career “the right way.”

Brissett spoke very well Maye’s development.

“Every day he gets better,” Brissett told reporters. “The nice thing about it is it’s not like, ‘Oh, I get it now and I’m not thinking about it.’ He’s constantly trying to find ways to improve, making some cool plays and you’re seeing his progression come to life.”

Running back Rhamondre Stevenson revealed that he and the Patriots are “close” on a contract extension.