Foxborough, MA - January 17: New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo speaks during his introductory press conference at Gillette Stadium. (Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The Patriots, who selected Maye with the 11th overall pick in 2021, must now get to work.
Before the draft, there was a lot of anticipation that the Patriots would select one of the best quarterback prospects to join their offense. The only thing that seemed to be up for debate was whether or not the team would trade out of #3 to acquire a desperate team’s deal.
However, no such agreement came to pass, and on Thursday night, New England chose quarterback Drake Maye of North Carolina with the third overall pick.
Although teams did talk to them about a potential trade, de-facto general manager Eliot Wolf acknowledged that they were happy to have their new signal-caller and said that it wasn’t enough to change anything in the end.
“After talking with other teams for a while, we felt that Drake
The trade offers began “a long time ago,” according to Wolf, but they felt it was an exceptional chance they couldn’t refuse.
“I won’t say the trade offers were constant, but there were trades at different stages of the process,” Wolf said. “However, we always knew we had a special chance to acquire a quarterback we liked, and we were clearly successful in doing so.”
Given that it’s well known that Maye has some fundamental problems that need to be resolved, he is undoubtedly a bit of a project. But at 6’4″ and 223 pounds, he definitely possesses the physical attributes you seek, as well as the strength and agility that unquestionably check all
Belichick, the former head coach of the Patriots, admitted on Thursday night’s Pat McAfee show that Maye is a project.
“Drake Maye needs a lot of work on his footwork,” Belichick once remarked while watching video of a play from when Maye was a college student. “As you can see, he’s just moving around, not really settling into a throwing stance, and getting stripped.”
Wolf acknowledged Maye’s shortcomings and stated that he was confident enough in the coaching group to help the rookie work through and hopefully overcome his problems.
Meeting with Coaches McCartney, McAdoo, and Van Pelt and simply discussing some of the growth he required and some of the things that they
Additionally, Jerod Mayo stated that Maye still has a lot of work ahead of him but that he thinks the rookie has a good chance of playing at a high level because of his work ethic.
Drake isn’t our starting quarterback, we’re not sitting here saying that, Mayo added. “I believe he is aware of that. He is aware of the areas in which he needs to improve, particularly in coaching, and he appreciates the ownership’s support system, our coaches, and hard work.
“I believe he has an opportunity to play at a very high level out there. You can speak about potential endlessly, but until you actually achieve it, it truly
