Not everyone is a believer in Drake Maye’s talent.

Count former head coach and New England Patriots former defensive coach Eric Mangini as one of those skeptics. That isn’t to say he sees no paths for success in Maye’s NFL journey. He is simply skeptical of the talent translating to great effect in the NFL.

Advertisement

However, he did recently admit that the Patriots bringing back Josh McDaniels as an offensive coordinator could be a game-changer for the 2024 first-round draft pick.

“I am very skeptical about Drake Maye, but I do believe he has his best chance to be successful and have a breakout season with Josh McDaniels,” Mangini said on First Things First. “And I do think that Mac Jones owes a lot of his success to Josh McDaniels. If Drake Maye is bright, which is sounds like he is—if he’s hard working, which it sounds like he is—he has an opportunity to grow in a substantial way in this offense, which is well put together, well thought out and should lean into a lot of his skill sets. So there’s a lot of hope.”

Mac Jones’ best NFL season came in his rookie year with McDaniels as his offensive coordinator. He racked up 3,801 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, 13 interceptions and earned a Pro Bowl nod as a rookie quarterback. The Patriots had the seventh-ranked scoring offense in the league with Jones under center that year.

Of course, that all changed the moment McDaniels accepted the head coaching job with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Advertisement

This will be an opportunity for him to capture some of that same magic again with Maye at quarterback. Maye is a more dynamic playmaker with the ability to impact the game in significantly more ways than Jones ever could.

So there is great interest in seeing what that talent looks like married up with McDaniels’ offensive concepts. It could change things in a major way for the struggling Patriots offense in 2025.

Follow Patriots Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Drake Maye skeptic sees ‘a lot of hope’ with Josh McDaniels returning