Patriots quarterback Drake Maye showed flashes of his talent during his rookie season, but he’ll need to continue that development in the coming years to make New England a consistent contender.
With rumors circulating that Josh McDaniels could be coming back to again be the Patriots’ offensive coordinator, new head coach Mike Vrabel was asked during his introductory press conference what his role would be in furthering Maye’s progression.
“My involvement will be as it relates to game management and situational awareness, and where we are on the football field, and trying to develop him as a leader of the offense,” Vrabel said. “And when our quarterback, when [he] calls the play, you want to say it like everybody believes that it’s going to score a touchdown — like with that type of emphasis on how everything is going to operate.
“Drake is going to be his own person,” Vrabel continued. “But I’m going to give him some things that I feel like are necessary to win football games. We have to be a very efficient passing football team. And when you look at, statistically, what wins in the National Football League, our ability to affect the other team’s quarterback and our ability to provide for an efficient quarterback and passing game is a high contributor to success. And there’s a lot of ways to do that — by protecting the middle of the pocket and all those things we’re going to talk about as we move forward. But how we protect the football, how we’re aggressive but not restless, understanding where we are in the game, and the situational awareness I feel like I’ve developed in my six years [as head coach] and in my past year in Cleveland.”
In 13 games with 12 starts as a rookie, Maye completed 66.6 percent of his passes for 2,276 yards with 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also rushed for 421 yards with two TDs.