{"id":913050,"date":"2026-06-08T05:15:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T05:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/913050\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T05:15:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T05:15:22","slug":"patriots-coach-reveals-why-drake-maye-could-explode-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/913050\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots Coach Reveals Why Drake Maye Could Explode in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2178231641-e1776439999667.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Fans gather outside Gillette Stadium in Foxboro before a New England Patriots game\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Fans gather outside Gillette Stadium before a New England Patriots game. Foxboro officials are delaying approval of upcoming events as they push the Kraft Group to cover rising public safety costs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/new-england-patriots\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New England Patriots<\/a> quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant believes wide receiver A. J. Brown is going to be a positive weapon for quarterback Drake Maye, as the latter now has a top wide receiver to use and what has been a premade offense.<\/p>\n<p>Brown was the talk of the league throughout the course of the offseason. Perhaps even more than that, he was identified as a potential target early on. Offseason rumors swirled regarding Brown and the potential for him to come to the Patriots. A podcast appearance only further ignited those rumors. Now, the wideout is in New England, it has already taken part in several of-the-field activities as well. The playmaker has also not been shy and his praise of his new teammates as well.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond just the good vibes and playmaking ability, he should also be able to elevate the third-year quarterback. Maye is coming off a Super Bowl appearance, one in which the team ultimately fell short, losing to the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/seattle-seahawks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Seattle Seahawks<\/a> by a 29-13 margin. Grant talked about how important it is for Maye to have Brown as his top wideout, as noted by <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/sunday-patriots-notes-j-brown-100000392.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PatsPulpit\u2019s Brian Hines.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it gives [Drake] a little bit of confidence knowing that he has someone who\u2019s had success throughout his career in the National Football League doing something that Drake excels at,\u201d QB coach Ashton Grant said. \u201cI think it\u2019s just exciting for the entire offense, because when you add a guy like that, it dictates coverages and it gives you favorable matchups across the board. So I think everybody on offense is excited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patriots Have Been In Position Before<\/p>\n<p>Patriots fans, and the quarterback himself, were able to get a taste of what life with the top wide receiver was like. Stefon Diggs recorded 1,013 receiving yards and four touchdowns. He averaged around 59.6 yards per game. The letter had several memorable games as a member of the Patriots, delivering 10 catches for 146 yards in week six against the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/buffalo-bills\/\" title=\"Buffalo Bills\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"290951\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Buffalo Bills<\/a>. The wideout also recorded 101 yards in week four against the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/carolina-panthers\/\" title=\"Carolina Panthers\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"290952\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Carolina Panthers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Brown Should Have Familiar Playstyle For Patriots<\/p>\n<p>Diggs was able to open up the offense in different ways. Brown should be able to do the same as well. The latter had four 100-yard receiving games in comparison to three for dates. Brown\u2019s first instance came in Week 3 against the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/los-angeles-rams\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Rams,<\/a> where he had 109 yards. He also had 121 yards in Week 7 \u00a0against the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/minnesota-vikings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Minnesota Vikings.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>After a couple of down weeks, he put things together towards the end of the regular season. He had 110 yards in Week 12 against the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/dallas-cowboys\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, 132 yards the following week against the<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/chicago-bears\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Chicago Bears<\/a>, and 100 yards against the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/los-angeles-chargers\/\" title=\"Los Angeles Chargers\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"290950\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> in Week 14. It was quite the bounce-back stretch for a player who struggled to find his groove all last season.<\/p>\n<p>Now, he will get an opportunity to improve upon that level of production with Maye. So far, the returns have been positive. Brown appears to be happy in New England, and the coaches appreciate what he brings to the table on the field. There are only a couple more weeks until training camp, and it will be interesting to see how the team integrates him into the offense. It will also be very exciting to see how Josh McDaniels draws up plays for Brown, as the coach has a new proverbial \u2018tool in the toolbox\u2019 to use at the receiver position.<\/p>\n<p>All in all, this could be a match made in heaven for both the Patriots and the wide receiver.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/dannyjaillet\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Danny Jaillet<\/a> Danny Jaillet is a sportswriter with more than 15 years experience in the industry. He has been featured on Fox Sports, USA Today, and Yahoo Sports among others. He graduated from Worcester State University with a  B.A. in communications and a minor in writing. <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/dannyjaillet\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Danny Jaillet<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Fans gather outside Gillette Stadium before a New England Patriots game. Foxboro officials are delaying approval of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":["post-913050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-england-patriots","tag-football","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-newengland","tag-newenglandpatriots","tag-nfl","tag-patriots"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116712788850668889","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913050","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=913050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}