Drake Maye Watch: Solid Day Before Patriots Pass-Catchers Drop Ball

FOXBORO, Mass. — New England Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye had it cooking through the first 11 periods of a wet training camp practice at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday.

Maye completed three of his four throws, including a pair of impressive touchdown passes, during a 7-on-7 red zone period. Maye lofted a perfect ball to Kayshon Boutte, who beat Alex Austin on a fade to the back corner of the end zone. The third overall pick immediately followed it up with a nearly identical throw to rookie tight end Jaheim Bell, who beat safety Kyle Dugger. Dugger tried to argue it was out of bounds, but it looked to be good. Unfortunately, there’s no replay review in early August.

Maye’s next throw, his fourth and final rep of the 7-on-7 period, went for a short pass to DeMario Douglas. Douglas shook his defender at the line of scrimmage and might have had a touchdown himself. Maye’s incompletion was a check down to JaMycal Hasty, a ball the running back probably could have had.

It was an impressive, though short, stretch.

Maye then followed it up with an 11-on-11 period from midfield. He formed a nice connection with Jalen Reagor, who caught three of Maye’s four completions on a series of short routes down the right and left sideline. Maye’s only incompletion was on a throwaway, the last rep of the period, after the rookie signal-caller led the Patriots offense into the red zone.

Maye completed eight of his first 10 passes in competitive periods.

Maye played behind an offensive line consisting of, from left to right, Caedan Wallace, Layden Robinson, Nick Leverett, Antonio Mafi and Zuri Henry. Running back Kevin Harris coughed up a fumble on the first 11-on-11 snap with Maye behind center.

His success, however, halted in the two-minute, hurry-up period. Maye went 0-for-4 with one sack and one interception during those five competitive reps. While that stat line might cause talking heads like Colin Cowherd to express concern about Maye, we can offer some context. And the context is that Maye was not helped by his pass-catchers during the got-to-have-it period.

Maye’s first throw during the two-minute period, intended for Javon Baker, ended up a tipped-ball interception by Marcellas Dial Jr. Maye went back to Baker on the next snap, which took place with a simulated 58 ticks on the clock. The throw went through Baker’s hands as he broke to the outside. Maye’s third play was a second consecutive drop, this time intended for JuJu Smith-Schuster. Maye was sacked on “third down” and his fourth-down throw intended for depth tight end Mitchell Wilcox was broken up by Dell Pettus, who made a nice play for the second-team defense, which celebrated accordingly.

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It’s not the first time his supporting cast has impacted him.

Maye concluded Day 11 after he went 8-for-14 with an interception and two drops. Perhaps most importantly, though, he looked comfortable and under control. He looked arguably as good as he has through 11 training camp practices.