New England Patriots practice came to a sudden early end Thursday after quarterback Drake Maye was involved in a frightening collision that immediately raised fears of a potential injury to the Super Bowl QB who was last year’s NFL MVP runner-up.
With Maye entering a pivotal season as the Patriots’ franchise quarterback, the incident quickly raised alarms as coaches and teammates reacted to the unexpected scare.
It was Day 3 of minicamp, and the session had been fiercely competitive with plenty of trash talking between Patriots teammates. During a red-zone 11-on-11 period late in the afternoon, Maye completed a pass to wide receiver A.J. Brown. Linebacker Bradyn Swinson made contact with Maye immediately after the throw, sending both players to the turf. Maye got up slowly.
Head coach Mike Vrabel had seen enough. He stopped the drill, pulled every player on the roster into a tight huddle at midfield, and addressed the group directly. Vrabel told the team that the risk involved was too great, according to ESPN‘s Patriots beat reporter Mike Reiss. Practice, which had been set to run until roughly 2:50 p.m. EDT, was cut short by Vrabel about 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
Maye’s Status After the Patriots Minicamp Collision
The alarm quieted quickly. Maye stayed on the field after Vrabel’s address and went right back to throwing â connecting with Mack Hollins, Romeo Doubs, Brown, and Efton Chism.
“Looks OK. Bullet dodged,” Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston posted after initially reporting that both Maye and Swinson had gone to the ground momentarily and that Maye appeared to be OK.
Mark Daniels of MassLive confirmed the early stop, also noting that Swinson had run into Maye and knocked him down. Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald described the session as hotly contested and confirmed that the collision ended the afternoon’s work.
Swinson â a New England fifth-round draft pick in 2025 â appeared to approach Maye following the play. His contact, while enough to put the quarterback on the ground, did not appear intentional according to reporters on site.
Matt Dolloff, covering the session independently, reported that Maye fell to the turf and rose slowly, and that Vrabel addressed the team for several minutes before calling it a day.
Kevin J. Stone of the New England Football Journal described the practice as an intense one, with heated back-and-forth between offense and defense throughout.
Maye’s Numbers and What Comes Next
Before the early stop, Maye had been sharp in the red zone, finishing 10-of-20 with seven touchdowns, including one rushing score, according to Daniels. Brown caught two of those scores, with Romeo Doubs adding another.
The Maye-to-Brown connection had been a recurring theme across all three days of minicamp. Multiple reporters on site noted the developing chemistry between the second-year quarterback and the veteran receiver, who arrived in New England just over a week ago in a much-heralded trade with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Vrabel’s immediate response â terminating practice and gathering the full group for a brief lecture â made clear how seriously the organization views the task of protecting its young franchise quarterback. No injury report followed. No medical evaluation has yet been publicly released. Reporters monitoring the practice all stated that Maye walked away fine, and the early ending was merely precautionary, not a response to a major injury.
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