Resetting the list of Patriots 2025: Drake Maye looks like a real QB franchise Originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
So here’s how I started Presentation of the position of the quarter of last year…
Eight. Eight different quarters traveled and out of the list of patriots in 2023. And on these eight – Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe, Malik Cunningham, Trace McSorley, Matt Corral, Will Grier, Ian Book and Nathan Rourke – None will be the Patriots Starter of the opening day in 2024.
No matter where the blame for the lack of offensive competence lies, the embarrassing performance in this position is the deep reason that the greatest coach in the history of the NFL is currently without work.
A few months after writing this, the patriots – as expected – signed Jacoby Brissett as a veteran reserved space. A month later, They took Drake Maye with the third overall choice. Then they added Joe Milton to the sixth round.
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When you choose the happy new year to really suck the NFL, you get a boost to drop the rarest finds: a real quarter of franchise.
Not a franchise guy in route. It is not a quarter of a quarter “It can be good if we do around people around him …” like Tua or Brock Purdy or Mac Jones. We are talking about a gang in one man. A rising tide that raises all the teammates.
The Patriots have chosen the happy new year. And they chose the right guy for a miserable situation in Maye. Some have said that a potted plant could not have screwed up this third choice. Maye was the only choice. I thought the opposite. I put pressure for trade, add choices, collect talents. I don’t think I was wrong, necessarily. The patriots remain among the worst lists of the League and Maye will die on the vineyard if they do not get talented.
But I would say that the simple presence of a possible superstar puts a buff-and-shine on an otherwise miserable team and puts a jump since a fairly good QB prospect and a very good offensive line player would probably not do.
Back to the play last year and what the patriots needed …
The good mixture of strength, mobility, balance and mental tenacity is a must. Who whom they bring – the veteran reserved space or the first round – resists inevitable adversity in this place? This is why – during the debate of the opportunity to make a quarter to n ° 3 – the patriots must be damn sure that the child can face the pressure, criticism and physical abuses which wait in New England.
Nailed it. Apparently.
Light points
Let’s keep it on Maye. These are attributes to be encouraged by: the drastic improvement of the offseason. Intelligence in the field performing the offensive. Strength of the arm and precision of the lower field. Extreme determination – if he ran, he took off; If he launched, he tore it. Mental tenacity was presented in a dark season. The physical tenacity shown after taking a beat and a desire to hang on or to fight for more. Leadership in the field and in the media appearances. The appearance he wants to appropriate to be a patriot. He is not looking for the exit.
Milton also improved quite radically during the season. His performance Against the Bills in the final of the seasonEven if Buffalo was sitting a lot of his best players, was far from the Milton we saw during the camp. He was not bad Then, just a little raw and subject to inaccuracy and to launch in team meetings. Going 22 for 29 for 241 yards and a touch is clear that it is talented.
Jacoby Brissett, who is unlikely to be back after being bench in favor of Maye, showed a real tenacity and admirably played in a dark situation.
Disappointments
Maye played behind the worst offensive line of the League. And, even if it is difficult to quantify, the wide Maye receptors had to lead the league by wandering at high speed after the SNAP. However, the child launched too many choices. He had 10 departures in 13. He finished third in the league in interception rate behind Kirk Cousins and Gardner Minshew. He will have to put this away and, With Josh McDaniels as offensive coordinator And an improved offensive line (it can’t be worse … can it?) It should happen.
They were better as a group in 2024. Low bar, yes, but they launched for 18 affected and 11 choices after a touch of 16 affected, 21 selections 2023.
Maye had 53 “bad throws” according to Professional football reference (16.4%). On the other hand, Mac Jones had 54 in 2023 (15.4%) and Bailey Zappe had 41 (20.2%).
Maye’s racing capacity is a real weapon, winning 421 yards in 54 races (7.8 means), but it must decide when the game is a little better and hit the bridge to avoid ruinous blows.
Contract statutes
Maye is always on his recruit agreement, which means that his base is wonderfully small. It’s $ 960,000 this year. Its salary ceiling was $ 8.327 million, which means that it represents only 2.7% of the planned ceiling. Milton, taken 190 slots after Maye, will also have a base of $ 960,000, but its ceiling is only $ 1.05 million.
The patriots are 27 years oldth In the QB expenditure league ($ 9.3 million in the 2025 ceiling space) and will stay there for a while. On the other hand, cowboys will have $ 90 million allocated instead. EW.
Inter-season priority (1-5 scale)
It is a priority 2. lower priority.
The Patriots did not find A guys. They seem to have found THE guys. Maye is the starter of the patriots, ideally until the turning point of the decade and beyond bad luck or a drop in the cliff. Milton is his backup. If the team decides that it needs a third quarter-rear which is more experienced than Milton, it is reasonable.
But this guy should be insurance behind Milton, in my opinion, not someone who begins in front of him. (Unless Milton has a Zappe-Esque training camp and is clearly not good enough to play at a winning level, as shown by the young Bailey during the camp in 2023). Preferably someone with experience having played for Josh McDaniels.
