Dan Orlovsky Impressed By ‘Little Things’ In Drake Maye’s Preseason Debut

Patriots fans left Thursday night’s preseason game deflated about Drake Maye, but an ESPN analyst actually saw bright signs in the rookie’s development.

Maye played one series against the Carolina Panthers. Fellow rookie Joe Milton III drew more praise for his performance in New England’s win at Gillette Stadium. While head coach Jerod Mayo had an understandable reason for pulling Maye early, it still felt like a troubling sign for the 21-year-old’s development.

Dan Orlovsky thought otherwise when he posted a video to X on Friday morning captioned, “I really liked a lot of the LITTLE things I saw out of Drake Maye for Patriots.”

“Really liked some of the little things Drake Maye did (Thursday night),” Orlovsky said. “Weather in New England was awful, pouring rain. But I wanted to see three things. Number one, what was he like as an under center quarterback, did not do that a lot at (North) Carolina. Number two, has he cleaned up some of the mechanics when it comes to the top of his drop, standing too straight up and not having a good base. And number three, did he understand what he was looking at post-snap.”

Orlovsky liked Maye’s mechanics when it came to handing the ball off, and while he thought there could be more improvement, he was encouraged to see the former Tar Heels quarterback’s form on his incomplete pass to Jalen Reagor. Orlosky also disagreed with Maye’s assessment of his third-and-11 throw and believes the rookie was right to check the ball down to Kevin Harris.

While it might seem silly to break down handoffs and mundane throws, they were big things to Orlovsky, and it might have been what offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt wanted to see from Maye in his first game action.

Mayo said Friday the Patriots had a specific plan for Maye and his development and did tease more reps for the 2024 first-round pick in New England’s second exhibition matchup next Thursday against the Philadelphia Eagles at Gillette Stadium.