FOXBOROUGH — After a promising rookie season, all eyes are on Drake Maye to elevate the Patriots offense in his second year.
Expectations are high for the quarterback — among both the fan base and the coaching staff — and Maye will get his first chance to meet them on Sunday afternoon when the Las Vegas Raiders come to town.
Since Mike Vrabel’s staff arrived in February, they’ve been impressed by the marked improvement the young quarterback has shown. Speaking at Gillette Stadium on Thursday afternoon, quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant outlined the two areas where he’s seen Maye grow the most.
“The confidence in the system No. 1 for sure, and then second, just being able to move up into the pocket,” Grant said. “Trusting his throws and trusting the protection.”
Maye had an undeniably shaky offensive line last season, but Grant believes this development goes beyond personnel surrounding the quarterback. Now that he’s acclimated to life in the NFL, Maye can focus on specific things more easily.
“It’s just the growth. When you come in on your first year, there’s a million things being thrown at you and then when you move and progress to your second year, then there’s certain things that we can focus on because the weight of moving to the NFL isn’t as big as it once was,” Grant said.
As Maye has grown in Josh McDaniels’ offense, the staff has gotten increasingly comfortable giving the 23-year-old more control of things at the line of scrimmage.
“My confidence in him has grown since the day we met back in February and it just has continued to grow since we’ve been here,” Grant said. “I think he has proven each and every day that he’s capable of that (pre-snap) responsibility. So I’m excited to see what he does come Sunday.”
In immersing himself in a new offense (again), Maye has proven to be a quick study to his new coaches.
“It’s super obvious that he’s a bright kid,” Grant said. “You forget how young he is. He just turned 23 last week. So he’s a very bright kid. He’s smart. He’s grasping everything that we tell him and he’s been very intentional taking the meeting rooms to the field.”
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