Patriots’ Jerod Mayo Had ‘Aha’ Moment Watching Drake Maye

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo, as many of you are aware, used to be a pretty good defender in his day.

Mayo anchored the defense in New England for eight seasons, moved on to do some work outside of football and eventually returned as a defensive assistant. The Patriots, after watching him excel in his new role, eventually promoted him following the departure of Bill Belichick.

You already knew all of that, but we wanted to give context before sharing what Mayo had to say about Drake Maye -- who the Patriots selected with the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday.

"The thing that most impressed me about him, he would get smashed and just get right back up. That's the same trait -- you had a guy like Tom Brady -- not saying that he's Tom, but just that mentality," Mayo told reporters just minutes after the pick. "It's the same thing with Joe Burrow. Those guys just keep getting back up and continuing to play at a high level, and that was like the 'aha' moment for me."

He never quite lost that player's mentality, huh?

It's a common theme among former players who become coaches. They value intangible things like toughness and accountability. We also know Patriots fans are going to eat up how the words "Tom Brady" and "Joe Burrow" came out of his mouth when describing a 21-year-old rookie.

Mayo's words don't appear to be lip service, though. Patriots head executive Eliot Wolf mentioned Maye's ability to handle media as a positive in the team's evaluation of him.

"He was one of the only quarterbacks in this draft that went up there after every loss and handled the media, not that the Chapel Hill media is as tough as you guys are, but he handled it with grace, with class," Wolf said. "Watching those press conferences, there were a lot of times where the reporters were trying to get him to throw somebody under the bus, and he wouldn't do it. He's a 21-year-old kid, but he's very mature and understands what it means to be a leader."

Can he put it together on the field? We'll just have to wait and see.