Will Drake Maye Be Starting QB? Patriots Preaching ‘Competition’

The New England Patriots made their feelings known on Thursday night, sticking with their No. 3 overall draft selection: Drake Maye is the guy.

That may or may not be the case right away.

Maye was snagged off the draft board by New England, coming out of a solid two-year run as the starting quarterback at North Carolina. The 21-year-old fills the organization’s obvious void — a signal caller for the future — after the team parted ways with Mac Jones via an offseason trade with the Jaguars.

However, like everyone else, Maye will need to earn a starting spot. New England isn’t open to handing him the keys to Gillette Stadium so easily.

“Our philosophy is, we’re going to compete in everything that we do on and off the field,” Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo explained to NFL Network Saturday. “We’ll put the best players out there that give our organization the best chance to win. So, we’ll have to see.”

In the weeks heading into the draft, New England’s decision didn’t seem so clear. The team vocalized its willingness to — at the very least — hear out trade offers from others across the league interested in the No. 3 pick. After Caleb Martin (USC) and Jayden Daniels (LSU) went first and second respectively, ahead of Maye, to the Bears and Commanders, the Patriots stuck with their gut and used to draft to pick their quarterback of the future.

“He was always one of our top guys and the more exposure that we had to Drake and also his family and the coaching staff out there in Carolina, we felt very comfortable with him at three,” Mayo continued. “He has tremendous upside, he has tremendous talent now as well but this a guy that’s a great leader and loves to learn, and we love that.”

Maye concluded three seasons with the Tar Heels by ranking fourth in passing yards (8,018) and fifth in passing touchdowns (63) in school history.

The Patriots already signed veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett and drafted quarterback Joe Milton — in the sixth round (193rd overall) out of Tennessee.