FOXBOROUGH — At the top of the NFL Draft, April smokescreens can get so thick they begin to make eyes water.
Holding the No. 3 overall pick, the Patriots proclaimed to be “open for business” since the draft process began and there were various reports about trading back over the past two months. But behind the scenes, their plan has been in the works since the NFL Combine: The Patriots wanted to take a quarterback at No. 3. They just needed to believe in the player.
On Thursday night they did that — and took North Carolina’s Drake Maye with conviction.
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“We had some conversations with other teams, but ultimately, we felt like Drake was the player that we wanted and we had the opportunity to get him,” de facto general manager Eliot Wolf said.
That’s not blowing smoke.
Wolf said the Patriots had good intel for “weeks” that Jayden Daniels was going to Washington with the second pick, making Maye their guy at No. 3. Despite all the subterfuge about being seriously interested if somebody “offered a bag,” they weren’t holding out for any Godfather offer on Thursday night.
The moment Washington’s pick was official, the Patriots put the wheels in motion. Maye didn’t have to wait long for the NFL-provided, old-school phone next to him in the green room to ring.
“Rang real early, right at 10 minutes,” Maye said. “Right when the Patriots were on the clock, I heard it start ringing.”
Each team gets 10 minutes before their pick needs to be submitted. For the Patriots, it might not have even taken 10 seconds to let Maye know he was their guy. Over the next three months, Jerod Mayo will undoubtedly use thousands of words to praise Maye, but that one action speaks just as loudly. The Patriots didn’t even want to listen to trade offers on the clock — when suitors get the most desperate — because they were so eager to take Make.
Though his potential is obvious, the 6-foot-4, 223-pounder still needs plenty of polish. Mayo made it clear that Maye is not walking in as a Day 1 starter. There’s a real chance he’ll sit behind Jacoby Brissett for some — if not all — of the 2024 season and will need plenty of time to develop.
So why are the Patriots so confident in their pick?
“One thing about Drake,” Mayo began, “(North Carolina) had some holes on offense, and the thing that most impressed me about him, he would get smashed and just get right back up. That’s the same trait — you had a guy like Tom Brady — not saying that he’s Tom, but just that mentality. Same thing with Joe Burrow. Those guys just keep getting back up and continuing to play at a high level, and that was like the a-ha moment for me.”
There was no cartoon lightbulb for Wolf, just a medley of things on and off the field. Between the lines, Maye elevated his teammates, and in front of cameras, he never threw his sometimes subpar supporting cast under the bus.
“Not to take anything away from anyone else in the program, but the game was on his shoulders for them,” Wolf said. “They have some talented players, talented running backs and receivers, but he really was able to elevate them and make them into what they could be.”
Maye said lifting teammates should be a prerequisite for any quarterback and pointed to relationship building as the primary driver. His new coach has spoken repeatedly about “developing people,” so it’s easy to see Maye as a culture fit in Foxborough”
“That’s a huge part of being a quarterback. You’re the face of the team. They look to you,” Maye said. “My responsibility is: Get to know the guys personally. I think that’s the biggest thing, genuine relationships. That’s what I feed off of, getting to know the guys truly – because we may not be able to handle different guys the same way. One guy, you may be able to get on him a little bit, yell at them, be a little harder on them. Back at North Carolina, some of the receivers, I could do that. Some of the offensive linemen, I was more gentle and friendly and just picking them up.
“So get to know the guys personally, I think that’s the biggest thing. Just be one of the guys… I love football. I love winning and I think the biggest thing is, I hate losing. I hate losing anything I do. It doesn’t matter what it is.”
Wolf is counting on him to continue winning in Foxborough. Making his first pick ever running his own war room, Wolf drafted Maye with plenty of confidence. Asked whether he was able to sleep the night before making the biggest decision of his career, Wolf cracked a grin.
“Yes,” he replied. “Pretty well, actually.”
