The New England Patriots are playing it safe with rookie quarterback Drake Maye.
Like, really safe.
Maye played just six snaps last Thursday night in New England's preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers, another indication the Patriots have no plans to throw him into the fire in his first NFL season.
Are the Patriots being too cautious with Maye, the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft? Perhaps -- especially with other rookie quarterbacks already flashing their potential.
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But New England also saw the drawbacks of rushing a young QB too quickly, as 2021 first-rounder Mac Jones fizzled out in Foxboro after initially showing promise.
"Do I believe that they are doing the right thing on erring on the side of caution? No," Patriots insider Tom E. Curran said this week on NBC Sports Boston. "You can game it up, you can hand it off, you can run draws, you can run screens, you can keep everybody in to block. You one million percent can keep him out there for all the snaps Bailey Zappe took, for many of the ones Joe Milton took. Neither of those guys got blown up (against Carolina). So, to me, it's too cautious by half, but this is what happens when you destroy a first-round quarterback in the recent rearview mirror. The wreckage is still smoldering."
One could argue it's apples and oranges, comparing Maye to Jones. Still, the Patriots can't afford to stunt their current quarterback's growth in the same way they ruined their former homegrown signal-caller. And that trepidation could affect how they handle Maye.
"One million percent," Curran said when asked whether the Patriots are still scarred from what happened with Jones. " ... (Patriots executive vice president of player personnel) Eliot Wolf saw what happened as a front-office person with Mac Jones and said, 'Well, let's not make that mistake again. I come from a place that does nothing but keep these things in little hot houses until they're completely ready to flower and bloom and then we bring them out, so that's what we'll do with Drake.'
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"I think people are going to have to wrap their heads around the fact that (Maye) was probably the most -- as (Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo) pointed out -- had the lowest floor but perhaps the highest ceiling. So, we're looking at him on the ground floor right now, and he's not ready for even Thursday night primetime."
Jacoby Brissett is penciled in as New England's QB1 to begin the 2024 regular season. Maye eventually could unseat the veteran, but that changing of the guard might not happen until later in the year -- at the earliest -- based on the Patriots' actions to this point.
Featured image via Eric Canha/USA TODAY Sports Images
