{"id":779850,"date":"2026-02-27T12:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T12:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/779850\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T12:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T12:44:14","slug":"patriots-say-drake-mayes-contract-situation-wont-impact-2026-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/779850\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots say Drake Maye’s contract situation won’t impact 2026 offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 There\u2019s a theory in NFL circles that teams must maximize their spending when they have a quarterback on a rookie contract<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It makes sense because that quarterback \u2014 Drake Maye in this case \u2014 will eventually eat up a solid portion of the salary cap when he does sign an inevitable contract extension.<\/p>\n

The Patriots spent heavily last offseason when Maye was on a rookie deal, but they also had mounds of salary cap space. They might not take the same approach this March, however, despite the fact that Maye is eligible to sign an extension next offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s always time to be aggressive, but not reckless,\u201d head coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. \u201cWe certainly understand what premium quarterbacks cost in this league, where they get to and what they should be compensated. So, we\u2019ll do our best to build and continue to build a roster worthy of competing for a championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maye has a cap hit just under $10 million in 2026. His cap hit is currently set to be $11.7 million in 2027, but that will rise if the team signs him to a contract extension next offseason due to a prorated signing bonus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re going to try to do what\u2019s best,\u201d executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said Tuesday. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that we have to spend because Drake\u2019s on a rookie contract. But we\u2019re going to, again, make decisions both for the short and long term that we see as best moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Patriots can extend<\/a> cornerback Christian Gonzalez this offseason. Wide receivers Kayshon Boutte and DeMario Douglas are also eligible for new deals.<\/p>\n

At this point, Maye is the only player from the Patriots\u2019 2024 draft class who will be deserving of a second contract.<\/p>\n

The Patriots made Super Bowl LX in Maye\u2019s second season. It will be easier to build around him this offseason before he agrees to a mega extension. From the sounds of things, however, the Patriots will not force it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 There\u2019s a theory in NFL circles that teams must maximize their spending when they have a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[4955,833,839,7,838,1167,249,2326,2094,6,15,835,61050,208,107497,19972,834,61051,61052,724,837,238,261,505,16165],"class_list":{"0":"post-779850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-drake-maye","10":"tag-eliot-wolf","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-mike-vrabel","13":"tag-new-england","14":"tag-new-england-patriots","15":"tag-newengland","16":"tag-newenglandpatriots","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-nfl-draft","19":"tag-nfl-news","20":"tag-nfl-patriots","21":"tag-patriots","22":"tag-patriots-2026","23":"tag-patriots-game","24":"tag-patriots-news","25":"tag-patriots-schedule","26":"tag-patriots-stats","27":"tag-pats","28":"tag-robert-kraft","29":"tag-seahawks","30":"tag-seattle-seahawks","31":"tag-super-bowl","32":"tag-super-bowl-lx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116142660962891268","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779850","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=779850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}