The Patriots primary focus is on winning games with veteran Jacoby Brissett as the team's starting quarterback.
Brissett has the entire organization behind him coming off last Sunday's win in Cincinnati, where he proved why he's New England's starter by managing the game like a savvy veteran. Now, Brissett and the Patriots turn their attention to Sunday's home-opener vs. the Seahawks at Gillette Stadium.
Although it's all about beating Seattle, the Patriots future continues his development behind the scenes at 1 Patriot Place. With Brissett starting, the team is taking the patient approach by sitting rookie quarterback Drake Maye behind the 31-year-old veteran.
The decision is justified, as Brissett can win football games while the 22-year-old Maye checks boxes in his development plan. Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo has referenced Maye's development plan multiple times but keeps the details in-house. That said, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, the lead voice in Maye's development, mentioned pre-snap problem-solving and other quarterback nuances as final hurdles for Maye to start.
Speaking to Patriots.com, Maye outlined his first regular-season week as New England's backup, where he was active in meetings, took some reps with starters and the scout team, stayed after practice to throw routes to receivers, utilized the Pats virtual reality technology, and wore an earpiece on the sideline to "play the game" in Cincinnati.
For Maye, waiting his turn behind a more experienced quarterback is not unfamiliar. In college, the rookie sat behind Seahawks backup Sam Howell at North Carolina. Howell and Maye became close friends during Maye's true freshman season, where he backed up Howell and appeared in four games. So far, this is a similar experience for the first-round pick.
"There's definitely some similarities. The biggest thing is that it's the NFL, so preparing for these teams takes a little more time. Also, I don't have school. So it's the only thing I'm doing. It's a lot better than preparing in college. But, other than that, it's very similar," Maye told me. "Jacoby was with Sam [Howell] last year, so he thinks Sam and I act alike."
Maye pointed to quarterback meetings where the group goes over the call sheet as a big learning experience for him. In those meetings, the quarterback room discusses all the runs and pass plays the offense is installing in that week's game plan.
"All the QBs go through the runs, passes, third down. Just kind of the whole call sheet, and Jacoby does a great job breaking it down. We try to cover everything," Maye said. "I'm trying to give my input. I know Jacoby values me, Joe [Milton], [QB coach] TC [McCartney]. He's the one doing it, but he values what we think. The best thing about it is we're also trying to have positive vibes in there."
At practice, Maye took reps against the Patriots starting defense during the week, both with the starters earlier in the week and then on the scout team mimicking Bengals star QB Joe Burrow.
"Early in the week, I was getting some reps. We'd go against the defense kind of good on good," said Maye. "But when we got ready for the opponent, Jacoby's the one in the game, so he gets them. So, then, getting some scout-team [reps]. Trying to do a good job last week emulating Joe Burrow."
One advantage to facing the Patriots starting defense so much in practice, whether it's with the first-team offense or the scout team, is that it challenges Maye going up against a great defense. New England's defense held the Bengals to 10 points in the win last week, holding Cincy's Pro Bowl quarterback to 164 passing yards and -0.04 EPA per drop-back. Going toe-to-toe with a projected top-10 defense will make Maye better.
"That's the best thing about playing on the scout team. Our defense is a great defense; you see what they did on Sunday vs. Joe [Burrow]. Just getting reps to see if I can fit in this in there, maybe fit this corner route in there, see if I can throw this crossing route if I look off this guy. Just trying to get reps that I'm not getting with our offense with the scout team," Maye explained.
Following each practice session, the rookie gets more work in with the Patriots wide receiver. Since the summer, Maye has been staying after practice to throw routes on air with fellow rookies Ja'Lynn Polk, Javon Baker, and Jaheim Bell. Others, such as KJ Osborn and DeMario Douglas, also joined the group last week.
"After practice, guys stay after for routes. I'm just kind of the guy, hey, whatever you need, I'm here to throw them," Maye said. "K.J. [Osborn] came up to me and ran extra curl routes, Pop [Douglas] is catching them over the shoulder. Little things like that."
"JP [Ja'Lynn Polk] and Bake [Javon Baker], young receivers, I think it's my job coming in with them in the rookie class to get them prepared. Here's what Jacoby is thinking, here's what he sees, if they do this, this is what we want. It's my job to take the young skill players and get them prepared so when their number is called, they're ready," Maye added.
Along with reps in practice, the Patriots also utilize virtual reality technology. The software allows teams to upload their playbook into the system and then virtually puts players on the field to run through different scenarios. Although nothing replaces live reps, the VR tech allows quarterbacks to take more mental reps where they go through progressions, read defenses, and run the offense.
Along with having a virtual room at the facility, Maye has an at-home kit. The Pats quarterback has his own VR headset that he can use to run through plays and situations during his downtime.
"You can put on the goggles and really play, but what I like doing more is you can look on the iPad and scroll and say versus this coverage, this is our offense. This is what our routes look like, so there are two ways to do it," Maye explained. "I'll go through two-minute throughout the week, some third down calls, and just our base concepts. Just come back to the basics. It's great that, hey, I'm not getting reps throughout the week with these plays, so I can go hit them. It's been an awesome thing."
As for game day, it was the Brissett show in last week's win. Still, Maye wore an earpiece so that he could hear Van Pelt's play calls to take mental reps from the sideline. For the Patriots future QB1, watching an experienced vet like Brissett play against the Bengals was valuable, while Maye also shared what he was seeing with Brissett at times.
"Playing the game on the sideline. I told Jacoby, hey, I'm gonna try to play the game. If you want to ask me something, I'll share my thoughts. You know, when this guy's pressed, I like this. Or, hey, on this, look, this guy's coming. Just trying to help him any way I can on the sideline and at the same time let AVP and Jacoby do their thing," the Patriots rookie explained.
Coach Mayo has repeatedly said that the organization's focus is on helping Brissett lead the Patriots to wins. Mayo also won't put a timetable on when Maye would take over out of fairness to Brissett, whom the Pats HC reiterated will start as long as he's playing winning football.
However, it's not a secret that New England is fully invested in the third-overall pick's future. With all due respect to Brissett, Maye's development is the most important aspect of this team's future. Although the Patriots are currently Brissett's team, there's zero doubt that they'll eventually be Maye's team. On Thursday, Van Pelt spoke to reporters about Maye's progress behind the scenes.
"The biggest thing is just every moment he has a chance to learn, whether it's in the meeting room, or the practice field, the scout team, on the sidelines, the pregame meetings, just understanding the process in that regard," Van Pelt said. "He can learn a ton just from the meeting we had today, questions that Jacoby asks. He's a sponge and takes it all in every day."
Eventually, the Patriots will make a quarterback change, with Maye stepping in for Brissett. Time will tell when that day will come, but for now, Maye is absorbing all the information he can from watching Brissett go through the steps to prepare and play in NFL regular-season games.
New England's brass believes that observing a veteran quarterback will be beneficial to Maye in the long run, preparing him even more for when his time comes.
DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer
