Why Drake Maye CAN handle the Josh McDaniels’ offense | Next Pats

Why Drake Maye CAN handle the Josh McDaniels’ offense | Next Pats

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] What’s up everybody? Welcome into the Next Expats podcast. I’m Phil Perry. On this week’s edition of Next Bats, we’re asking the question, is there too much on Drake May’s plate in this Josh McDaniels offense? And we have the perfect guest to discuss. It’s our buddy Matt Castle, who of course played in this Josh McDaniels offense back in 2008 when he had to fill in for Tom Brady. Now he’s doing a phenomenal job on NBC Sports analyzing all things college football. But he has some tremendous insight. And before we get to him, I do want to share what Drake May himself had to say when he was asked that very question. Here’s Drake May from earlier this week. No, I mean I think um like I said uh you know previously anytime you’re playing quarterback in the NFL is um it’s a lot on your plate. A lot of good that comes with it and there’s a lot of stuff that’s on your plate. That’s just part of it. So trying to do whatever I can to you know study as much as I can and um you know hear the play calls and and study the formations before he calls them and um yeah like I said there’s a lot of things that go into it being accurate and play calling and getting in and out of plays. So uh just trying to um like I said get a get a good grip on And I think the more more u we do that, you know, kind of throughout the weeks and as the season go on, the better I’ll feel for in this offense. So Drake May says there’s not too much on his plate. What does our guy Matt Castle think? And should the Patriots be making any changes as they go into their week 2 matchup against the Miami Dolphins? Can they somehow take something off of Drake May’s plate? Whether it’s at the line of scrimmage, maybe it’s after the snap, maybe it’s in the huddle, maybe it’s formationally, maybe it’s with the plays they are calling. What does Castle think? Here’s our conversation. There he is. There’s that handsome devil, Matthew Castle. Matt, thanks for being back with us on the next pads podcast, my friend. It’s always great to have you on NextPs. You know what? It’s always great to see your face. You know, the the governor, Phil Perry, I just miss your aura all the time, but just the fact that I get to see you on video just makes my day. You miss my aura. I miss your musk. Let’s get into some football conversation now, sir. Josh McDaniels and this Patriots offense, you know it well. Tell us why. Because the conversation has been, is there too much on Drake May? It looked like maybe he was playing a little robotically at times, a little inconsistently in week one against the Raiders. But tell us why with what you know of this McDaniels offense, it has a reputation for being relatively difficult for quarterbacks. We’ve heard it in the past, Matt. Josh McDaniels puts a lot on the plates of his quarterbacks. Is that true? Why is that? Well, I mean, as a quarterback, right, you have to prove that you can handle it. Number one, but within this offense, I talk about this all the time to anybody that ever askked me about playing within the New England offense. It is a quarterback friendly offense there. Now, there’s a lot of nuances to it in terms of for the quarterback, there’s tremendous responsibility about coming up, setting the protection, right, and getting yourself protected, but that’s also understanding defense. But really, all those things that you talk about in terms of it’s very complex, it’s sophisticated. It’s it’s not as sophisticated as you think. A lot of that stuff shows up on third down and red zone when you have to be able to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage to check to a man beater or have you have your zone beater, you have your man beater. In the red zone, you’re anticipating pressure. You got to get to a sevenman protection, protect yourself, and go to your best one-on-one. Very similar to what you saw Drake made the touchdown pass to Douglas in the game. You saw what they did. They moved the running back outside. He got a coverage indicator right there that helps the quarterback more than it hurts him or or puts him in a position to where they’re playing scared. He comes back. You see him go alert, alert, and then he’s got his one-on-one matchup going to the outside against inside leverage and throw leverage and he throws a great ball and it results in a touchdown. So, if you want to say that’s too much on a quarterback’s plate, no. A lot of these pre- snap alignments, formational shifts are giving me indicators on what the play is that we need to get to in those certain circumstances. Did it look like to you, because you did, you watched the game, you watch you watch so much football, I know, and we appreciate all the detailed analysis that you can give us, but from what you saw from Drake May, did it look like he was thinking a little too much? Did it look like a player where if you were an offensive coach, you might say to yourself, “Oh, we need to give him less going into week two so that he can be more effective.” Well, I think anytime you have to go out there in your first game of the year with limited run game and throw the ball 46 times, you’re going to have some plays go ary or you’re not going to be as crisp or as sharp. He did complete 30 of those 46. He made some great throws, but even the first play of the game, that was more of him probably being really sped up early early on the game. He had a clean pocket. All he has to do is work back into his progression. You had two goes on the outside that one of them was converting because it was a two shell. But you’ve got Stefon Diggs sitting right over the ball for an easy completion, a great drive starter that he just didn’t work back into his progression. Now, as you saw the game go on, they ran that play four or five times. He threw the outside hitch on one. He threw the guy to Stefon Diggs coming across the middle on the little drag route another time. And he even hit Booty on the backside, the full backside, got all the way through his progression on an incut multiple times. So, they ran that same concept that he was probably familiar with and really liked five times in that game. At least four. I know it was four or five times. So, it’s not like it was a brand new concept. They kept running it. The first play of the game though, he was sped up probably just the emotions of opening day and went and had to run for a one-yd gain when he all he needed to do was check the ball down. Some of the throws got away from him. I know it was a little bit of a sloppy day. The interception in particular, he’s going the right place with the ball. He just missed the throw. That will happen when you throw the ball 46 times in a game. It’s really interesting. You know, I it does feel like having rewatched it and now listening to you, there were probably times where Josh McDaniels was trying to make it a little bit easier for Drake May, whether it’s calling the same play four or five times and allowing him to sort of find his rhythm within the flow of that play or, you know, little things like uh they were among uh the bottom of the league, Matt, in terms of their use of motion. So, it can help a quarterback. I totally get that you’re talking about coverage indicators, but you know, if they want to just take a little bit of something off his plate before the snap, maybe not incorporating a ton of motion or especially, you know, motion at the snap, you know, maybe they feel like that’s making life a little bit easier for Drake May in his first start in a new offense. I want to take you back to 2008. I I know you remember it well, but I I I do want to ask you as comfortable or as as quarterback friendly as this offense can be. Did you feel that way right away? And I know you’d been in the system for a couple of years, so it’s a little different situation than Drake May is dealing with right now. Did you feel that way right away or did it take you some time as a starting quarterback to really kind of get your feet underneath you and feel like, okay, this this offense is is giving me the answers. I just have to know where to look. Well, I had the advantage of being in the system for going into my fourth year when Brady actually went down, right? So, I was very aware of the protections and what I needed to do up front to get that handled. Also, why we did this particular movements and understood the offense in its entirety. However, it’s different when you have to go out there and execute it on the field. So, even when you look back to my first start against the Jets in the Melands, there were a lot of guard rails up on that game plan there. It was screens. It was simple one to two passes, progression reads. We took our shots. We did those things. So, it was a much less complex offense. But as we started to build throughout that season and as they started I started to understand and they knew that I could handle it. We had the same amount of plays and the same playbook that we were running when Tom Brady was running running quarterback position. Right. So, it’s just a matter of it’s a it’s a process of building into the confidence level at the quarterback position and at the same time it’s the confidence that the coordinator has that you can handle all this cuz Drake May can make all these throws. It’s maybe simplifying the concepts. But like I said, you saw multiple repeat concepts for Drake May during that game that people probably are not aware of. But then you had your mixture of you had some screens, you tried to take your playaction shots. Well, play action shots are a little bit difficult because they’re getting leaky and you’re not running the ball effectively. It’s most effective when you can run the ball well. And so some of those were trying to push the ball downfield and they had a few of them that hit, but some of them it was a protection breakdown. It wasn’t there. You have to throw the ball away. You have to scramble. What would you do, Matt, if you were a coach, if you were on this offensive staff for the Patriots and you saw week one, what would you do to try to settle Drake May down a little bit? Is there anything schematically you would do to say this might be able to make his life a little bit easier against the Dolphins? Right. I I some of it is just making sure that he’s that he’s confident in his reads because there was a few plays that if he just gets through the progression, he’s going to naturally get to the open wide receiver cuz they had guys open and even some of the the plays that they called, they schemed them open. the one to Hunter Henry early down the field where they clear out with the post. He runs the out but then comes up. That was a great play call and a great play design. They come right back on the play action. But protection breaks down. Similar concept. He’s got an open tight end running down the field. They aren’t able to hit it because he’s getting hit as he throws. So for me going into this game, I I’m encouraged by what I saw. A lot of people are sitting there going, “Oh, well he’s got to be perfect.” You’re not going to be perfect. But if he can build off of a lot of these concepts and wa go back, watch the film and understand, oh, maybe I had a little bit more time here. I got to get to my number three over the ball or quickly eliminate a side instead of waiting for some guy to get open or break free. Just get get through your progression quicker. And that’s probably what they’re talking about this week. Now, one of the reasons you’re a great one of the many reasons you’re a great person to have on this edition of Nextpats, Matt, is not only your experience in this offense, but your experience as an athlete in this off. I mean, still an athlete, but certainly an athlete back in 2008. You rushed 73 times for almost 300 yards that year. And I think for a lot of people, they look at Drake May and they look at his athleticism and they say, “Well, if he has to get settled in, maybe let him run a little bit more because I think this off season, they’ve been very focused on not taking away his ability to run, but making sure he remains a passer while he scrambles and then if he does get beyond the line of scrimmage, get the heck down and protect yourself.” What is your memory of running as often as you did in ’08? Did Josh McDaniels try to convince you not to? Did he get ticked off if you took off in a situation where you shouldn’t have? What is that experience like? Because there there haven’t been many scrambling quarterbacks in New England in this Josh McDaniels offense. You’re kind of the one, Matt. So, what was that like for you back then? Well, I think it was understanding situational football as well. when you get third down and they’re playing man across the board and they’re not accounting for you. That was something that we talked about cuz I did have the ability to take off and run the football that all of a sudden they don’t account for you. These guys are running past you. Take off and go get us the first down. Get us a new fresh set of downs. Sometimes it was me probably panicking and not getting through my into my third read. And we talked about that too. And then there was other times where Bellich’s like, “Castle, look, we pay these guys back here to run the football. you need to stay inside the pocket, right? So, that’s just basically there’s the whole whole realm of it is the situation understanding like when you can take off based on the defensive structure and what you’re trying to do. Some of it was designed, other times it was out of necessity because guys aren’t always going to be open. You’re not always going to have a clean pocket and you’ve got to go try to make a first down. But again, it’s about protecting yourself so you can play the next play. Castle, you’re the best. You teach us something every time we have you on the next Pats podcast. We love having you on. Make sure audience love you. First of all, I hope you heard that. Audience, but make sure you go watch this guy on NBC Sports breaking down all things college football. Listen to the Lots to Say podcast with Bobby Bones. You’re the best, my friend. Thanks so much. Thanks, Philly. Great to see you, buddy. Great stuff there from our guy Matt Castle. Will be fascinating to see exactly how much is on Drake May’s plate in Miami. If they’re able to run the football a little bit more, might mean a little less for Drake May to try to have to eat and it could yield better results. Coming up on Next Pat, I have a draft eligible receiver you absolutely must know about in our who’s next segment. We’re also answering some questions in our mailbag. Stick around. Welcome back to the next Pats podcast. Let’s launch right into our who’s next segment. This is where we’re going into the 2026 NFL draft prospects we think will be available. Some of these players we’re not even sure if they’ll declare at this point, but we feel as though it’s important to at least give you some names to keep an eye on. You find yourself on the couch watching some college football on a Saturday. And the name we’re going to start with this week is Mai Lemon, the receiver out of USC. He just might be the best receiver in next year’s draft class if he declares. This guy actually played receiver and corner. Some Travis Hunter shades back in his freshman year two seasons ago. Played a little bit of corner. Now he is a full-time receiver and rightfully so. 5’11, 195 lbs. So he’s not going to fit the suit of a true X, but quick as a hiccup, incredible speed, strong hands, and could be a dynamo in the slot in a Josh McDaniels offense. He’s a little taller than Dion Branch, but there’s some Dion Branch to his game. He might be a slot receiver only. And so again, if you’re looking at a receiver in the first round, maybe you want somebody who can be more of a contested catch maven than Mai Lemon, but boy, it looks as though he can run just about any route. And once the ball’s in his hands, he is a threat to score from anywhere on the field. He’s second in college football right now in yards. He’s third in yards per route run according to Pro Football Focus. And when he’s targeted, he has a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3. Next up, let’s go to the tackle spot. Yes, offensive tackle. I know they just spent the fourth overall pick on Will Campbell, but could they be interested in a right tackle? Or could they be interested in a player who plays tackle now and might be a guard down the line? Remember, they just drafted Jared Wilson, played primarily center at Georgia in the third round. If the long-term plan is to kick him inside and be the one snapping the football to Drake May, that leaves an opening at left guard. And maybe this next player is a fit, it would be Francis Maua from Miami. Second week in a row that were highlighting a hurricane. Last week it was Ruben Bane, the edge defender. Those guys are going one-on-one against each other on a regular basis. And I love this quote from Mario Crystal, the head coach at Miami to ESPN recently where he said when they have their one-on-one drills at practice and it’s Ma Yoga against Bane. It looks like Jurassic Park out there. Those are the types of body types that you want to be drafting in the first round with Ma Yoga. You know what you’re getting? You’re getting somebody who is explosive, who is strong, who is violent. You think that is somebody that might interest Mike Vrabel? actually a lot of carryover between the style of play for Will Campbell in my opinion and the style of play for Maui Yoga. Campbell may be the better athlete, probably a little bit better in terms of his speed and his foot quickness, but Ma Yoga is a powerful dude. And so whether you want him at right tackle and being the person to take over for Morgan Moses in the future or if you’d like to play him at guard because like Campbell, he’s not the longest individual in the world. He does look like a 10-year pro with really high upside no matter where you play him. And our final who’s next honore for this week is a safety. Our second week in a row we’ve highlighted a safety. Last week it was Caleb DS from Ohio State. This week it’s Toledo’s own Emanuel McNeel Warren. 6’2, 200 lb, true NFL size. And it looks like he has legit NFL instincts as well. 11 tackles, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery against Kentucky. Then follows that up with a tackle for a loss. Another fumble recovery, and a pick six against Western Kentucky. I know he’s from Toledo. I know he’s not going to play the hardest schedule of any player that we highlight on this who’s next list over the course of this fall, but this is the same school who produced a very good player in Philadelphia right now at corner and Quinion Mitchell just this past draft. Darius Alexander, the defensive lineman out of Toledo goes in the third round to the Giants. So, they have NFL talent on this Rockets roster year in year out. and Emanuel McNeel Warren looks like the next. I know they just drafted Craig Woodson, but if you want somebody to ride Sidecar to Woodson for the foreseeable future, Mike Vrabel could be interested in Emanuel McNeel Warren. All right, it’s time to get to some of your mail. We’re going to start with a question from Ryan at Braz. He says, “May was a quote project coming out of college that needed time to grow. He’s on OC 4 in four years. This team is the least well equipped of the teams that drafted QBs in his draft. Expectations need adjustment. What realistically should we be looking for in terms of improvements? I think it’s a fair question, Ryan, and I think it is fair to say adjust expectations relative to those young quarterbacks in some of those other situations. If you’re a fan of Nexats, you might remember that we ranked all the quarterback situations in the NFL before the season began, not just the situations for those quarterbacks that were drafted in 2024. And Drake May ended up near the bottom of the barrel. They were tied for 24th with the Giants. They were in the subcategory of quote unquote playing with fire. Whereas Minnesota, JJ McCarthy’s situation under Kevin Oonnell with a very good offensive line with obviously elite weapons to throw to ended up the number one quarterback situation in the league by my ranking. The Commanders were in the top 10. The Broncos were in the top 10. These guys have it a little bit easier than Drake May. And I think that’s okay to say. I think it’s fair to say when you look at the offensive line, I put Caleb Williams quite frankly in that top 10 as well and the Bears did end up there. When you look at the lines, when you look at the weapons those guys have to throw to and the coaching staff surrounding them, they’re in objectively better situations than Drake May. So, where can you expect realistic improvement? Number one, how about just with the accuracy, especially based on week one, make your layups. I think that is a fair expectation, but that was an issue for him at times even in college. So, does that mean having to get a little bit more comfortable in the offense? Does it mean being able to know where to look a little bit more quickly before and after the snap? Does it just mean working on your mechanics and having those down so you can make those easy throws? I think you should see some improvement there. Then, how about when it comes to using his legs? I think there’s room for improvement there and I think that is realistically something that he can achieve. Know when to run and how. I think you saw him bail from some clean pockets in week one and when he did run he was very quick to get down and I don’t blame him because the coaching staff is in his ear about protecting the equipment. You can’t lose him and so he does have to understand how to protect himself. But that’s something that I think will come with time. he’ll understand when he can take a few more steps and pick up a few more few more yards versus I’m in a danger zone right now. I better get the heck down. That’s one area I think he can get a little bit better in terms of his instincts running at that position. And then finally, I think in terms of realistic improvement, how about leadership? This is something that the Patriots have been working on with him as well. And Mike Vrabel in particular, he was on him throughout camp. Go talk to your teammates. Go celebrate with Go celebrate, excuse me, with your teammates. Those are the kinds of things that Vrabel wants to see from someone who is in the most important position on the roster. So to me, that’s a realistic expectation as well is that you see him really settle into that role, even though he is just 23, just turned 23 years old, settle into that role as a captain, as somebody who’s comfortable not only leading by example, but leading vocally as well and being the person that everyone in that locker room looks to when they need someone to look to. I think that’s something that doesn’t always come naturally, but can improve. Some may be born with more of that than others, but if you can see improvement, steady upward improvement from Drake May, that indicates more improvement is coming down the line as he gets deeper into his career, that to me would be a good thing for the Patriots and is something that is realistic for Patriots fans to expect him to achieve in year two. All right, our next question is from JM Lynn. He asked, “How does the Miami Dline compare to what the Patriots just faced against the Raiders? Can we expect a better run outcome against the Fins?” I wouldn’t necessarily expect it, but this is an opportunity for the Patriots to get right with their run game. Absolutely porous last week were the Dolphins. They allowed the Colts to be one of the most efficient running teams in the NFL in week one. Their rushing success rate was 55%. That was fifth best in the league. They ran for 156 yards total, which was sixth best sixth best in the league. And their EPA per rush was seventh best at 0.13. So even though they only picked up 3.9 yards per rush, a great day running the football for Indianapolis against Miami. The question is, is Miami going to try? Are they going to show up and give effort because they have talent up front? You talk about Zack Siler, he’s making $20 million a year. Jaylen Phillips, all kinds of physical talent on the edge. Bradley Chub coming off a monster year last year, 11 sacks, six force fumbles. They have real talent. They just drafted Kenneth Grant from the University of Michigan in the first round to buttress that defensive line even further. So, it is a good and talented group when they try. That to me is the biggest question because the Dolphins team you saw both offensively and defensively in week one was not giving their best effort. The reason I hesitate to say that the Patriots will certainly take advantage of that front based on what that front put up on film in week one is that the Raiders defensive line is just not all that talented. They have Max Crosby and then they basically have a bunch of reserves on their defensive line. So for the Patriots to only average 3.3 yards per carry to me a very real concern. All right, that’s going to do it for the next Pats podcast for week two. Thanks so much for listening. Thanks so much to the great Matt Castle for joining us and sharing his insight on this Josh McDaniels offense and what the Patriots might be able to do to make Dre a little bit more comfortable as he goes down to South Beach and tries to give the Patriots their first win in 2025. We’ll be right back here next week with more next. We’ll talk to you next time. [Music]

A lot of questions this week surrounding whether there is “too much” on Drake Maye’s plate. So who better to ask than former Patriots QB and BFF of the podcast, Matt Cassel?! Cassel breaks down the expectations of a QB in the New England system, and discusses what the Patriots can do to set up Drake for success in Week 2.

1:00 – Drake Maye says there is not too much on his plate
2:00 – Matt Cassel details expectations for Drake Maye in the Patriots offense
9:00 – How can the Patriots set up Drake for success?
13:30 – Who’s Next?!: College players to watch this weekend

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