How Drake Maye Made Patriots Defensive Assistant ‘Hate’ Him

Drake Maye didn’t show much in his NFL debut, but the Patriots rookie turned heads in practice under his unique development plan.

New England decided the starting reps in practice between Jacoby Brissett and Maye would be a 70/30 split. It’s a plan uncommon in the NFL since due to the lack of time in practice, teams want the starter to get as much work in during the week to prepare for gameday.

However, head coach Jerod Mayo and his staff kept an eye on the future and wanted Maye to get as much work as possible along with his work on the scout team. Mayo revealed Maye instructed coaches to not tell him the defensive schemes so that he can work on deciphering coverages. The work he’s done heading into Week 4 had coaches gushing about the rookie.

“He’s progressing and makes some great throws in practice against us,” cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino told MassLive’s Mark Daniels on Thursday. “I remember one specifically that I went in the next day and was like, ‘I hate you. That was a great throw.’ He’s doing a good job so far. He stuck one in between tight coverage on a new call that we had a couple of weeks ago. It was like, ‘I really wish he didn’t make that throw, but you did.'”

Despite the impression Maye made on his teammates and the coaching staff, Mayo continued to pump the brakes on the 2024 third-overall pick taking over the starting job early into the season.

But if you’re a Patriots fan, you couldn’t help but be excited to hear the positives Maye displayed. That excitement will turn to eagerness if the rest of the rookie quarterback class continues to shine.