{"id":170072,"date":"2025-06-30T10:18:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T10:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/170072\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T10:18:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T10:18:14","slug":"karen-guregian-why-drake-mayes-expected-year-2-leap-isnt-a-given","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/170072\/","title":{"rendered":"Karen Guregian: Why Drake Maye’s expected Year 2 leap isn’t a given"},"content":{"rendered":"

In some circles, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye <\/a>is the team\u2019s top candidate to have a breakout season in 2025.<\/p>\n

With Josh McDaniels at his side, a slightly better cast of weapons, and the hope of having a competent offensive line, there\u2019s ample reason to believe Maye will make the desired Year 2 leap.<\/p>\n

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And yet, there\u2019s still some trepidation about the North Carolina product and how he will fare heading into his pivotal second season.<\/p>\n

Without question, the talent is there. Maye showcased a dazzling set of skills last season after taking over as the starter for Jacoby Brissett Week 6.<\/p>\n

But he was also mistake-prone, a trait that followed him from college.<\/p>\n

He threw 15 touchdown passes, with 10 interceptions. He also fumbled nine times.<\/p>\n

And therein lies one of the biggest reasons for pause.<\/p>\n

Maye has to be able to break the habit, not force plays, and protect the football better.<\/p>\n

Getting over the turnover hurdle is certainly doable, it\u2019s just not a given.<\/p>\n

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Former Patriot great and current WEEI host Ted Johnson also sees the enormous talent, but agreed Maye has to conquer that demon before making the leap.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at all the interceptions, and only one win last year, I understand the trepidation,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI think he\u2019s a special player. I think he has special traits. But I do wonder if he has the mental aptitude, or the mental skill set to match what his natural talents are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turnovers aren\u2019t the only issue.<\/p>\n

Maye also needs to do a better job hitting intermediate passes and deep balls, where he ranked bottom-10 in that category according to Pro Football Focus.<\/p>\n

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Those are the big-time throws, the ones that make or break quarterbacks – and teams.<\/p>\n

During OTAs and minicamp, Maye was spot-on with those deliveries in some practices, not so much in others. We\u2019ll see what training camp brings.<\/p>\n

Outside of that, Johnson mentioned one more category on Maye\u2019s bucket list to hit the next level: leadership.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see how Maye handles being in complete charge at the outset, unlike last season where he deferred to veteran Brissett.<\/p>\n

Johnson said he took interest in how Maye went about the offseason, trying to get a read on those intangible qualities. He was hoping to see examples of his growth as a leader to satisfy that part of the job.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhether it comes from leadership, whether it comes from a clutch gene, whether it comes from just being the man, the face of the franchise, I was kind of hoping I\u2019d hear some stories this offseason that he was bringing guys together, that he was throwing with guys,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat sounds kind of corny, and maybe forced, but the quarterback has to be the CEO. He has to take ownership of the football team. And I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s fully accepted that part of the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me hesitate to think that he might be the guy, ultimately because of those things. But his talent is undeniable. His skills are undeniable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The biggest offseason news surrounding Maye wasn\u2019t about organizing throwing sessions with receivers, it was his proposal to long-time girlfriend Ann Michael Hudson in January and marriage to her last weekend.<\/a><\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean football took a back seat in between.<\/p>\n

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Beyond his newlywed status, most of Maye\u2019s time has been spent trying to learn a new offense, and getting in tune with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.<\/p>\n

His progress and comfort level with the system was notable with every passing week.<\/p>\n

Training camp, and the joint practices in particular, will provide a better read on how he\u2019s faring with the offense, along with his new weapons (Stefon Diggs, Kyle Williams, Mack Hollins, TreVeyon Henderson).<\/p>\n

Diggs <\/a>will also have a major say in Maye\u2019s growth, or lack of such in Year 2.<\/p>\n

Even coming off ACL surgery, Diggs provides Maye the closest thing to a No. 1 receiver in his arsenal. At age 31, he\u2019s not likely to be vintage Diggs, but a reasonable facsimile would go a long way.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s remarkable how good Diggs looked during the early camps, but once again, there are no guarantees.<\/p>\n

Ditto the offensive line.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot riding on rookie Will Campbell <\/a>being able to handle left tackle, protecting Maye\u2019s blind side. But that stands as another unknown.<\/p>\n

Having an improved defense<\/a> that\u2019s stingy surrendering points should take some of the pressure off the young quarterback, who was constantly having to come-from-behind last season.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it all comes back to Maye dealing with his own issues first whether it\u2019s mastering McDaniels\u2019 system, eliminating turnovers, or taking charge.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s up to Maye to remove any doubts surrounding him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need him to be the alpha. He doesn\u2019t have an alpha presence,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat\u2019s what you need to have in this league to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Patriots Content<\/p>\n

Read the original article on MassLive<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In some circles, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye is the team\u2019s top candidate to have a breakout season in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[833,7,7523,6441,1056,9228,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,531,37812,596,351],"class_list":{"0":"post-170072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-drake-maye","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jacoby-brissett","11":"tag-josh-mcdaniels","12":"tag-kyle-williams","13":"tag-mack-hollins","14":"tag-new-england","15":"tag-new-england-patriots","16":"tag-newengland","17":"tag-newenglandpatriots","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-patriots","20":"tag-stefon-diggs","21":"tag-ted-johnson","22":"tag-treveyon-henderson","23":"tag-will-campbell"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114771807791595858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}