Editor’s Note: After each training camp practice, Phil Perry will provide an in-depth breakdown of Drake Maye’s day — complete with the No. 3 overall pick’s snap counts, passing stats and the pros and cons from his performance — in The Drake Maye Report.
FOXBORO — Drake Maye’s second training camp practice was, in a word, pedestrian.
No brash displays of next-level arm talent. No obvious examples of elite movement skills. For a player who was drafted at No. 3 overall in large part because of rare physical traits that helped him generate explosive plays on a regular basis, those traits were hard to spot on Thursday.
The Patriots offense could’ve used a handful of splashy moments from their rookie on Day 2 because it was, for the most part, a slog on that side of the ball. Protection breakdowns led to throwaways and would-be sacks. There were run plays that went nowhere. There was a communication breakdown between quarterback and receiver that led to a wild incompletion. There was, for the second straight day, a bad center-to-quarterback exchange.
It was the kind of practice that served as a reminder that, despite Maye’s gifts, asking him to elevate the Patriots offense on his own — at least to begin his career — is asking too much. But it was also the kind of practice for Maye that the offensive coaching staff in Foxboro might have appreciated more than the fans in attendance who showed up hoping to see a 40-yard completion or two.
Why? We’ll answer in our Day 2 edition of The Drake Maye Report…
The rep breakdown
Jacoby Brissett maintained his spot as the clear-cut top quarterback at practice on Thursday. He worked with the top offensive line — which included Vederian Lowe at right tackle — and was first up in every competitive period of practice. Maye was clearly the No. 2, working in behind Brissett when the competition between offense and defense revved up.
For the second consecutive day, the volume of reps for Brissett and Maye was almost exactly an even split. The veteran saw 12 snaps of competitive 11-on-11 work, while the rookie got 10. They both were given six competitive 7-on-7 plays.
The one change in the quarterbacking hierarchy at Gillette Stadium from Day 1 to Day 2 was that Joe Milton was the No. 3 passer on Thursday. He had an opportunity to show off his arm strength in his seven competitive snaps, trotting onto the field after Maye, whereas Zappe got just three (and none in 11-on-11 periods).
Crunching the numbers
The completion percentages for both Brissett and Maye belied the team’s lackluster offensive performance on Day 2, but here they are: Brissett went 9-for-13 in competitive periods (69 percent); Maye went 10-for-12 (83 percent).
Maye completed all six of his 7-on-7 reps, including one to fourth-round wideout Javon Baker, who seems to be developing a rapport with his fellow rookie. On seven called pass plays in 11-on-11 periods, Maye went 4-for-6 with a scramble.
Neither Brissett nor Maye threw an interception and neither quarterback fumbled.
Play of the day
The longest gainer of the day for Maye was a modest one, going for about 15 yards over the middle to rookie second-round pick Ja’Lynn Polk. It was a dig route that allowed Maye to flash a few of the strengths of his game.
Throwing into the teeth of the defense, Maye showed easy velocity to hit his target in stride for what would’ve been a first down. Maye’s aggressive mindset and willingness to attack the middle of the field was also something that helped set him apart from the top quarterbacks in this year’s class.
If he can continue to do that as a pro — West Coast attacks with a heavy reliance on play-action passes tend to ask their signal-callers to strike at the middle of the field — he could help a not-so-explosive set of weapons create the occasional chunk play.
What also stood out about Maye’s work on this particular rep was that he reset his feet after a hitch or two up in the pocket. As a collegian, Maye’s accuracy after moving in the pocket and re-setting his feet was often scattershot. Not on this throw to Polk. The time and energy focused on footwork by Alex Van Pelt and his staff seem to be paying some dividends for Maye early in camp.
Tom Curran and Phil Perry weigh in on Ja’Lynn Polk’s performance so far at Training Camp, and how the Patriots coaching staff is trusting him early to be a main part of the offense.
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.
Mastery of the mundane will be a key — if not incredibly exciting to watch — portion of Maye’s development. Not just during training camp but throughout his first season and through the early stages of his pro career.
By submitting a turnover-free, boring-but-high-completion-percentage kind of day on Thursday, perhaps Alex Van Pelt and his offensive coaching staff would view Day 2 as a step in the right direction toward pro readiness for the rookie.
Maye is a player who, while at North Carolina, had issues at times understanding when to push the envelope with his arm, which helped lead to 16 picks over two seasons. He also had occasional lapses with his short-area ball-placement. In the “Weaknesses” portion of Dane Brugler’s scouting writeup for The Athletic prior to the draft, Maye was described thusly: “Generally, his accuracy is above average, but his arm gets juiced up and he will miss some layups.”
Therefore, for Maye to get through a practice without a turnover-worthy throw, and for him to complete over 80 percent of his attempts? Though there was a dearth of explosive gains with him behind center, that was a silver lining to his performance.
🔊 Patriots Talk: Too-early impression of Patriots offense from camp? Sluggish | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
Even Maye’s two incompletions on the day arguably weren’t on him. One was a miscommunication with wideout Tyquan Thornton where Maye thought the receiver would be somewhere else and threw a pass that wasn’t close to completed. The attempt came off play-action and was late in the down. There was a lot of time for a big gain to develop. But it ended with a wild miss. Was that on the quarterback (who immediately turned to the coaching staff and seemed to indicate he expected his target to do something else)? Was it on Thornton?
The other incompletion came when rookie tight end Jaheim Bell tried to make a one-handed catch on a simple crossing route when it looked like he had the ability to reach up with two and secure it.
Aside from the throw to Polk mentioned as the Play of the Day for Maye, there was another subtle display of athletic talent that’s worth mentioning here.
On his second pass play of the day, he was quickly pressured off his front side following a play-action fake. Had it been a full-contact session, he very well might’ve been sacked. But, after completing his fake with his back to the line of scrimmage, he turned to face the defense and reacted quickly to the oncoming defender. With two hands on the football, he side-stepped to avoid contact and pulled a quick side-arm throw to his outlet Rhamondre Stevenson.
It’s easy to envision that kind of quick and explosive in-the-pocket movement helping him escape trouble to buy time for himself and his teammates when the reps are live.
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.
Maye’s lone scramble attempt came on his first dropback of the day and did not seem to be the result of pressure. Instead, after he looked to his first read, he quickly took off up the gut. He had a similar rep on Day 1.
It’d be interesting to find out from head coach Jerod Mayo (who will speak on Friday) whether or not those are valued reps by the coaching staff. (The assumption here is that particular play was not a called quarterback draw.)
Do they encourage Maye to use his legs at the first sight of trouble because he’s a talented scrambler, or would they rather he learn to hang in the pocket and see plays through? Particularly early in camp, when everyone is trying to get a feel for a new scheme and how certain plays might develop, there’s a chance the Patriots would rather see Maye settle down and make the most of a clean pocket in the times when he’s given one.
