Drake Maye has been having some pretty forgettable padded practices at Patriots training camp as concerns continue to grow.
The Patriots are hoping their No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 draft will be their quarterback of the future, but Maye has had a pretty ugly training camp history so far.
During practice on Tuesday, the rookie completed just 1 of 6 attempts in a two-minute red-zone drill, including an incomplete corner fade to Javon Baker in the end zone that forced the entire offensive line to do push-ups.
After New England traded Mac Jones to the Jaguars in the offseason, throwing away their last hope of a cornerstone passer, team officials hoping to see the team progress aren’t excited about his performance.
“I’m the last person in the world who wanted to see what I saw. I wanted to lie to myself today,” the sports commentator said. Michael Hawley said “I watched Drake Maye in college. I loved him in college. You know what? He was a great college player. At North Carolina, people would sometimes compare him to Justin Herbert. And I said, ‘I agree.’ Some people would compare him to Josh Allen. You see that at North Carolina.”
“You know who I saw in Foxborough today? The ghost of Mac Jones. I saw the ghost of Mac Jones. I’m not just talking about Mac Jones as a rookie facing off against Tom Brady, I’m talking about Mac Jones in that awful game they had in Dallas last year, that awful loss. He was awful, awful in every sense of the word. He was bad at everything he did.”
Unfortunately, the toss to Baker wasn’t the only part of May’s disappointing performance that raised eyebrows.
He made a disastrous off-platform pass that went wide to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
On another play, tight end Mitchell Wilcox was sandwiched between two defenders on a hospital ball from Maye, and yet another lowlight was a roll-out pass to an outstretched Jalyn Polk.
According to multiple reports, Maye is succumbing to the pressure of the Patriots’ defense.
During that same practice, last season’s seventh-ranked defense returned a Kevin Harris fumble for a touchdown after confusion led to the Patriots fielding the wrong lineup.
Play was stopped and May’s team had to start again.
It’s reportedly difficult to distinguish between sixth-round flyback Joe Milton III and Maye, the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, which has fans and pundits feeling uneasy.
In the handful of practices he was assigned, Milton scored consecutive touchdowns on Polk on drag and also scored a touchdown on Smith-Schuster.
Meanwhile, Maye was the only quarterback who failed to secure a touchdown pass during Tuesday’s practice.
He finished the day with 8 hits for 15 at bats, and 5 hits for 11 at bats in the team’s 11-on-11 game.
May was just coming off a slump on Monday, going just three for 11 during the competitive period.
Thankfully, the two padded practices were a small sample size, and Meyer has time to bounce back before the Patriots’ regular season begins on Sept. 8 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
