FOXBORO -- Drake Maye's third training camp practice, which took place on Friday ahead of an off-day Saturday, featured snapshots of some wonky footwork. Those snapshots appeared to lead to bouts of inaccuracy and, at one point, an interception.
While perhaps the most encouraging part of his Day 3 was how he responded to some of his shakier moments, he seemed to be thinking about cleaning up the movements of his lower half headed into Day 4. On Sunday, those instances of squirrely-footed quarterback play were fewer and farther between.
Did that make it a better day for Maye? It wasn't an immaculate performance by any stretch, but he had more good moments than bad in competitive team periods. Let's get to the details in our Day 4 edition of the Drake Maye Report.
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The rep report
Maye received 18 reps in competitive periods, including eight in 7-on-7 work and 10 during 11-on-11 sessions. That continued a trend for the top two Patriots quarterbacks, who've been getting the same volume of work through the early portion of camp. Jacoby Brissett also saw 18 competitive reps in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 periods.
Brissett remains the top dog at the position, playing behind the first-team offensive line and stepping up first in all drills and team periods. No changes there through four days of on-the-field work.
Crunching the numbers
Maye finished the practice 10-for-16, with one of his incompletions going down as a drop, and absorbing one would-be "sack."
Brissett, meanwhile, completed seven of his 12 attempts on the day, and he took what would've been two "sacks" had the plays been live.
Play of the day
There were a couple of contenders worthy of a mention here when it came to Maye's performance. He had an accurate deep ball that drew cheers from the crowd in attendance when it was reeled in by Kayshon Boutte over Christian Gonzalez. He also had a scramble-drill play where he moved to his right and threw sidearm off one foot -- looking almost like a 6-foot-4, 220-pound middle infielder -- to hit Jalen Reagor for a nice gain.
But the best play of Maye's day might've come from the pocket. With a defensive back blitzing off the right edge, he stepped up, kept his eyes down the field, and rifled a crossing route to fellow rookie Javon Baker for a long catch-and-run completion.
Why he's ready
In this section of The Drake Maye Report, we'll highlight the portions of the rookie's performance that suggest he's prepared to sit atop the hierarchy of quarterbacks in New England sooner rather than later.
Maye's performance on Day 4 was a football version of a Rorschach test. Anyone watching could see that which they wanted to see.
Looking for athleticism and arm talent? His on-the-move throw to Reagor and the deep ball to Boutte would've been memorable. Looking for scattershot accuracy and odd short-area misses? His behind-the-target slant to Boutte and wide-right miss to Mitchell Wilcox in the flat were easy-to-see eyesores.
There was something for everyone. Truly.
But if Maye is going to need to be coachable in order to be ready to play at the NFL level, he showed a willingness to be coached Sunday. There were issues with his footwork on Day 3, and on Day 4, there were fewer.
It was hard not to notice his feet looking more calm on a decisive strike to Reagor early in the practice with his cleats firmly implanted in the ground. The same was true when the Patriots called for two in-routes off of Maye's right side. He read the first, waited, deliberately re-pivoted his feet and hit the second accurately.
There was a slant thrown to K.J. Osborn later in the practice that, not knowing Maye's intentions, could've been a misfire. But it actually looked like good ball placement when he hit his back foot and ripped a throw to Osborn's back shoulder. Why throw a touch behind on an inward-breaking route? Linebacker Jahlani Tavai was waiting over the middle to deflect the pass -- or, had it been a live setting, cave in Osborn's chest -- and Maye seemed to throw in such a way that his intended target would be led away from danger.
It wasn't Maye's cleanest day of camp. But if Alex Van Pelt and the rest of the Patriots coaching staff are looking for Maye to take to what they're teaching him, Sunday's performance looked like that of a player who knew what he wanted to correct and tried to make the appropriate adjustments.
Why patience is a virtue
In this section of The Drake Maye Report, we'll highlight the portions of the rookie's performance that suggest he's not quite ready to sit atop the quarterback depth chart.
While looking to make corrections is a noble pursuit for someone in Maye's position, the reason for making the corrections is to achieve a greater level of consistency. But even with Maye's feet looking more calm on Sunday, there were misses.
In the 1-on-1 period early in practice, Maye had a few wayward shots down the field. He looked frustrated for an instant when he couldn't hit Osborn deep in an early 7-on-7 period after Osborn got a step behind corner Marcus Jones. And his misses to Wilcox and Boutte were more difficult to explain away than some of his misfires on Friday because his feet seemed to be settled underneath him at the time of the attempt.
Maye had misses that made sense, too. His back-shoulder throw to Osborn wasn't, in my opinion, on him. He wisely spiked a screen pass into the dirt when he realized the defense had sniffed it out.
But some of the more inexplicable incompletions, especially in the short area, will be misses that the Patriots will likely want significantly reduced (if not totally eliminated) before they trust him to take meaningful regular-season snaps.