Karen Guregian: For best Drake Maye barometer, Patriots should circle this summer date

Yahoo

05-06-2025

The second week of August. Joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings.
Circle those dates on the calendar.
Why?
For anyone wondering the best time to get a read on Drake Maye, and if he's going to make a Year 2 leap with a new offensive coordinator and new offense, see where he's at during those joint practices.
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See how he looks then.
That'll be the best barometer. At least, that's the view of former Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer, who played for nine different teams and had to learn nearly as many offenses along the ride.
Right now, Maye is making mistakes. He's processing, thinking a little too much about the plays, and what he's supposed to be doing.
That's been the prevailing opinion during the two open OTA practices thus far. And having been there and watched, I'd concur with that view.
Now for some context. This is the normal course for quarterbacks early in the process. The new offense should click for Maye eventually. It did last year when he was learning Alex Van Pelt's system.
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Given Hoyer's NFL resume, he has a pretty good handle on what Maye is going through at the moment, and provided some insight into the quarterback we're seeing now.
From his experience, Hoyer said the goal for Maye during OTAs and the upcoming minicamp is to get all the procedural things down so he can hit the ground running in training camp in late July.
'If you're the Patriots, you want to see Drake come out of OTAs and minicamp with a decent command of the operation, calling the plays, identifying the Mike (middle linebacker), alerting the play when he needs to, all of the procedural things,' Hoyer said, 'because if he gets that down when he gets to training camp, he can focus just on the physical part of it.'
That's step one in the process.
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At this stage, Maye is finding his way, trying to get comfortable with the new system and terminology. Josh McDaniels is also seeing what works for his quarterback within the system, and what doesn't.
'It's one of those things where you throw everything at the wall, see what sticks, and refine it as you go along,' Hoyer said. 'To me, the thing you want him to be able to do is process from the huddle call to the line of scrimmage. And from there, be comfortable to just play. And I'm sure he'll get there.'
Some fans have already started sounding the alarm bells. And to some degree, it's understandable given scribes have portrayed uneven, inconsistent performances. They've written about inaccuracy and uncertainty on the part of the quarterback.
'The one thing Drake is going through now, it's his first full offseason going in as the starting quarterback. There's a lot of new things being thrown at him,' Hoyer said. 'There's new players he's working with. And, on top of that, the defense is pretty good.
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'(In a passing camp) the defense knows you're throwing the ball every single play. It's a little bit of a different mentality. There's no pads. They're not really working on the running game.
'We always said this is the hardest time of the year (for a quarterback). At what other point does the defense know you're going to predominantly throw the ball?'
The Patriots have another open OTA session Monday, followed by minicamp June 9-through-11.
It wouldn't be a surprise if Maye continues to struggle, but there should be signs of improvement as well.
After throwing four picks the first OTA session the media viewed, he was clean during Wednesday's session. But that didn't signal all was well with the second-year quarterback.
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Constantly on the move from a line that continues to struggle to protect (several starters have been non-participants), Maye had some accuracy issues. Again, it's not a problem now, but could be down the road if he can't make the necessary fixes.
'He did a lot of great things last year, but he also had a lot of rookie mistakes and a learning curve,' Hoyer said. 'He was on a team that didn't do well, and he was the one bright spot. So we highlighted his good plays, and downplayed his bad plays.
'I do think this year, we're going to have higher expectations from him all around. It's your second year. You have better coaching, better players around you, etc. And I think that process of learning ... this is so valuable to him. I would not worry about a lot of mistakes right now.'
The time to panic if there's no improvement?
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As stated above, the second round of joint practice session against the Vikings, if not the first against the Washington Commanders, is the pivotal juncture for Maye.
'When he gets to the week of practicing against the Vikings, that'll be a great barometer,' Hoyer said. 'You'll be able to sit there and watch multiple practices against a different defense and you'll have a really good feeling ... If he goes out and has a Mac Jones type of day against the Giants ... they should all feel really good about where he's at.'
The latter reference was to Jones' rookie year. He was in a competition with veteran Cam Newton. It was after Jones' put on a clinic against the Giants during those late August joint practices, that the move was made, making Jones the starter.
The biggest thing to look for now is whether Maye is making the same mistakes over and over. If he's a repeat offender, that wouldn't bode well right out of the gate.
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Seeing him in consecutive practices, both in minicamp, training camp, along with the joint practices, will provide a better view of reality.
'If you over-analyze (now), you're going to really put yourself down a fox hole that may or may not have anything to do with the results of how he plays this year,' Hoyer said. 'Josh is having to install this offense to a lot of new people. There's a lot of experimenting going on. There's a lot of learning going on.
'The reality is, until you get to training camp, and the pads go on, and the offense is allowed to run the ball, and the defense isn't just sitting back and playing pass defense, it's really just glorified 7-on-7 right now.'
Hoyer was funny describing the difference between Van Pelt's west coast style offense, which Maye learned last year, and the one he's trying to decipher now with McDaniels.
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'The system he was in last year was Spanish, and this system is German,' Hoyer said. 'They're not relatable at all when it comes to the terminology and what he's being asked to do. So it's going to take some time to feel comfortable with that stuff. But once it clicks, it'll really allow him to flourish.'
Look for the 'click' date to come in mid-August. If not, then it's time to worry.
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Read the original article on MassLive.