The future is now.
The Patriots will start rookie quarterback Drake Maye on Sunday, per sources. This move comes after the team got out to a 1-4 start with Jacoby Brissett as their starting QB.
Maye, the 2024 third-overall pick, has appeared in just one game, relieving Brissett in Week 3 during a blowout loss to the Jets. He went 4-of-8 for 22 yards with two carries for 12 yards.
Maye has been improving in practice, per a team evaluator. The 22-year-old QB still makes some errors and will occasionally revert to bad habits, which is to be expected from a rookie, but overall, he’s performing well.
The thought, from one team evaluator, is that any rookie mistakes Maye makes will be outweighed by the upside he brings.
“Really good,” offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said late last month when asked how Maye was performing in practice. “He’s continuing to grow. I think the game experience the other night will only help him moving forward. But the plan’s in place, and we’re starting to see him to grow on the practice field, as well.”
The North Carolina product impressed during the preseason with head coach Jerod Mayo saying that Maye was outperforming Brissett by the end of the summer. Through the first four weeks of the season, Mayo maintained that Brissett still gave the Patriots a better chance to win. That changed Monday morning, when he would no longer confirm that the veteran QB was still the team’s starter.
“When I meet with the coaches today, it’s about we’re in a solution-driven business, and we aren’t playing good football,” Mayo said Monday morning. “We have to look at every single unit and every single player and figure out how we use this roster to go out there and win games.”
That led many to believe that a change was imminent.
Brissett, who signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Patriots this offseason, averaged just 139.2 yards per game before getting benched. He was 18-of-34 for 160 yards in the Patriots’ 15-10 Week 6 loss to the Dolphins. The Patriots are averaging just 12.4 points per game, which is second-worst in the NFL. Their 119.4 passing yards per game is league-worst.
“It just wasn’t good enough,” Mayo said of Brissett’s performance in Week 5. “I thought we played well enough defensively and on special teams to win the football game. Look, as the quarterback, and he understands this, he touches the ball on every single play and we didn’t win the game, or score enough points to win the game. I think he would echo that same sentiment that it wasn’t good enough.”
Maye faces a tough task in Week 6 against the Texans, who are allowing just 274.2 yards per game, the fourth-lowest in the NFL. The Texans’ defense owns the NFL’s highest pressure rate at 42%. The Patriots’ offense is allowing a pressure rate of 48.3%, also the highest clip in the NFL.
The Patriots allowed pressure on 16-of-40 dropbacks during Sunday’s loss, per PFF. Ten of those 19 pressures allowed by Patriots offensive linemen were let up by center Nick Leverett, who was filling in for captain David Andrews, who required season-ending shoulder surgery.
Outside of Andrews, the rest of the offensive line, which featured Vederian Lowe at left tackle, Michael Jordan at left guard, Mike Onwenu at right guard and Demontrey Jacobs at right tackle, settled.
Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne also returned off of the PUP list to the new-look Patriots’ offense, which featured rookie Ja’Lynn Polk and second-year-pro Kayshon Boutte as starters, in Week 5.
Maye finished the preseason with a 61.8% completion percentage with 192 passing yards and one touchdown in 38 dropbacks. He also added 10 rushing attempts for 60 yards with a touchdown.
After Week 6 against the Texans, the Patriots’ schedule lightens up in Week 7 against the Jaguars in London. They’ll then take on the Jets, who just fired head coach Robert Saleh, Week 8 at home before back-to-back road games against the Titans and Bears.
That Week 10 matchup against the Bears gets more exciting since Chicago is starting 2024 No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams. Maye is now the fourth rookie starter, joining Williams, the Commanders’ Jayden Daniels and the Broncos’ Bo Nix.
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