Mike Felger and Tom E. Curran offer instant reaction to Drake Maye’s performance in the Patriots’ preseason Week 2 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
FOXBORO -- Drake Maye handled his business on Thursday night. Now it'll be interesting to see how the Patriots coaching staff handles him moving forward.
Jerod Mayo has been very clear throughout the summer when detailing how he'll handle player workloads: You get what you earn when it comes to your role and your reps.
The Patriots head coach reiterated that point after Maye's performance in two quarters during a 14-13 preseason loss to the Eagles.
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"For me, we always talk about competition," Mayo said, "and that's at all spots... If he's better than Jacoby [Brissett], then he'll play. He'll start."
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Maye couldn't have won the job from Brissett in 30 minutes of exhibition action. He completed six of his 11 attempts for 47 yards. Brissett, meanwhile, went 3-for-7 for 17 yards with an interception.
But could the rookie have earned more practice snaps with the first-team offensive line, at least?
The No. 3 overall pick in this year's draft showed against Philadelphia that when he has time and space to operate, he has the ability to look polished.
He hit rookie wideout Javon Baker for a first down on a third-down throw from a clean pocket. Later in the game he aired one out to Baker deep down the field while sliding to open space behind the line of scrimmage -- the kind of subtle muddy pocket navigation that high-level quarterbacks exhibit on a regular basis in today's game -- but the pass was dropped.
There have been signs in training camp that Maye has some refinement to his game, particularly when it comes to his ability to process. In 7-on-7 situations in practice, Maye has impressed his coaches. Those periods have been fluid. He's looked like he knows what he's doing, he's made quality reads, and he's delivered accurately.
But in 11-on-11 work, with a pass-rush to contend with, Maye's eyes have at times turned downward toward rushers attacking what has been a porous second-team offensive line. That has impacted his decision-making and confidence, seemingly, and therefore impacted his ability to show coaches what he's capable of.
On Thursday, Maye had an opportunity to work with the first-team offensive line -- minus David Andrews, who was replaced in the second quarter by Nick Leverett -- and seemed comfortable. Outside of a fumbled snap and what looked like an unnecessary scramble, when he had a lot of space to operate behind the line in the second quarter, the operation with Maye leading the charge was relatively clean.
Maye exhibited a variety of tools that helped make him worthy of the third overall selection in the draft. He scooted into the end zone as a runner for his first professional touchdown, showing what kind of plays are available to play-caller Alex Van Pelt near the goal line when the athletic 21-year-old is on the field.
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He made wise throwaways late in downs.
He functioned effectively when given "quick game" calls that required shorter throws to be out of his hands soon after the snap.
He made checks at the line of scrimmage and directed his teammates to re-position depending on what he noticed from the defense across the line of scrimmage.
He found one-on-one matchups that he liked and attacked aggressively. On his deep pass to Baker that was dropped, he held a Philly safety to the left side of the field with his eyes before coming back to his right and finding his target on an island.
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Maybe, if given a handful of first-team reps in practices, if given a few more clean pockets, those positive plays can pile up for him. Maybe that will provide his coaches a more accurate assessment of who he is now and who he can be in the short term. The second-team line with which Maye has played for the entirety of camp simply hasn't offered him those types of opportunities on a consistent basis.
Mayo acknowledged Thursday night that that group has work to do.
"I would say there's a dramatic drop-off, not really physically, but just knowing what to do between the first line and the second and third guys," he said. "They have to get better as a whole, as a unit."
The Patriots will be back on the practice field Saturday, and we'll have an opportunity to see if the plan for Maye has been at all altered by his encouraging preseason performance against the Eagles.
There's an argument to be made that in a program that values competition the way this one plans to, it should.
