Drake Maye film review: What the Patriots QB can do to improve in Year 2

New York Times

2 days ago

Drake Maye stepped into a difficult situation last season and the No. 3 pick of the 2024 draft elevated an anemic Patriots offense. New England had one of the worst offensive lines and receiving corps in the league, so the rookie quarterback finding success in that environment was a minor miracle.
This season brings a reset for Maye, with the Patriots hiring a new play caller with a productive track record (as an offensive coordinator, not head coach) in Josh McDaniels and upgrading the talent around their QB through the draft. After watching the film from Maye's rookie season, here are five questions he and the Patriots have to answer to take the next step.
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In most of McDaniels' career as a play caller, the Patriots didn't throw the ball downfield a ton but focused on quick to intermediate passing. Tom Brady masterfully executed McDaniels' offense, frustrating defenses as New England dinked-and-dunked the ball downfield and hit the occasional shot when the defense grew impatient. However, McDaniels has shown the ability to adapt his philosophy to suit the talent on his roster.
For example, when the Patriots acquired Randy Moss in 2007, Brady had the highest average air yards per attempt (AY/A) of his career (9.42). The Patriots were calling deep option routes for Moss that they didn't have in the playbook before. As the Raiders' head coach, after McDaniels and company acquired All-Pro receiver Davante Adams, quarterback Derek Carr had the highest AY/A (9.2) of his career.
I imagine McDaniels will want to call a more vertical offense for Maye to take advantage of his arm talent, but to do that, someone has to step up as a consistent deep threat. That's why they drafted receiver Kyle Williams in the third round. He'll have to quickly learn McDaniels' offense, which has been notoriously difficult for young receivers.
Diagram from the Patriots' 2016 playbook
McDaniels also catered to other quarterbacks, including Cam Newton, and ran a creative option offense that was hampered by Newton's injuries at that late point in his career. With Maye's athleticism and the lack of proven weapons, I wouldn't be surprised if McDaniels installed a small option package for him. McDaniels is a sharp offensive coordinator who will create one of the more interesting schemes around his uniquely talented quarterback.
The scheme won't matter unless Maye can learn it. Though McDaniel will tweak his scheme, it will likely remain complicated, which contrasts with the league-wide trend of making things as simple as possible for quarterbacks. To be as adaptable and multi-layered as McDaniels wants, the offense must be complicated. An onus is on the quarterback to handle the verbiage, pre-snap adjustments and option routes. It's not easy on quarterbacks, which is why coaches from this system prefer players with experience in it.
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McDaniels' pre-snap operation is as intricate as any other in the league. For example, if the quarterback says 'molasses,' it means he has two play calls but will use a 'dummy' count to get the defense to show its hand to see if the quarterback has to 'kill' the first call to get into the second call. It's a useful tool but one of many that Maye will have to learn and master.
Maye had trouble executing and threw four interceptions in an organized team activity (OTA) practice — not that it's anything to panic about, but it shows that his head is understandably overloaded a bit at this point.
Maye's mobility was a difference-maker for an offense that couldn't block last season, but there were times when he could have avoided pressure or sacks by throwing with a tick more anticipation.
2:00 remaining in the fourth quarter, second-and-6
For example, on this play against the Rams, the defense rotated into Cover 1 (man-to-man with one deep safety and a robber).
Maye had his first read open on a dig route but waited until after his receiver's break to start his throwing motion.
The protection broke down quickly but Maye had an opportunity to get the throw off if he had released the ball a half-second earlier. Of course, this could be more of a trust issue against man coverage between Maye and his receiver.
Maye did a better job of throwing with anticipation later in the season, particularly against zone coverage.
2:22 remaining in the second quarter, second-and-15
Here, the Colts rotated into a Cover 3 zone (three deep, four underneath).
Maye read the coverage and looked off the weakside, underneath defender to open space for his in-breaker to the right.
Before his receiver cleared the underarm defender and ran into the first window, Maye had already let go of the ball.
The window would have closed if Maye had waited. Without anticipation, this ball would not have been completed, even with the RPMs Maye has on his bullet passes.
The Patriots faced the second-highest rate of Cover 1 blitzes in the league because teams didn't respect their receivers and wanted to keep Maye bottled up in the pocket with an extra rusher.
4:30 remaining in the third quarter, second-and-7
The Patriots had a play-action concept with a dig route on this play against the Bills. The defense crowded the box and played man coverage.
A blitzer got past the line of scrimmage as Maye was executing the play fake. Running back Antonio Gibson should have aborted the fake and blocked the blitzer, but he saw it too late and seemed to freeze. Pass protection was one of the reasons the Patriots drafted running back TreVeyon Henderson in the second round this year.
Maye had to escape to the right, away from the break of the dig.
Still, Maye was able to make a miraculous pass for the first down, throwing against the grain.
Throws like this are why Maye was drafted so high, but you don't want to have to ask him to make plays like this against the blitz too often. McDaniels' system will give him more answers schematically but the Patriots must be able to block, and receivers must be able to beat man coverage more consistently.
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Last season, Henry was targeted on 23.4 percent of the Patriots' third-down passes, ranking fourth among tight ends, right below Travis Kelce. Hunter is a fine player and developed a strong rapport with Maye last season, but he isn't nearly good enough to warrant that sort of usage.
4:25 remaining in the second quarter, second-and-7
Here, Henry had an out route against man coverage.
Henry was bumped and didn't create a lot of separation but Maye knew he could throw the tight end open and trusted him to make the play.
Maye threw a perfectly placed pass over the defender and Henry hauled it in. It was clear Maye's comfort level with Henry far exceeded his comfort level with any other receiver.
In Maye's last full game of the season, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter did a good job of taking Henry away, throwing Maye and Patriots offense out of whack.
6:35 remaining in the third quarter, third-and-2
On this play, the Chargers initially gave the Patriots a man coverage look with no one on top of Henry to bait Maye to look in his direction.
After the snap, the defense dropped into a Cover 2 zone and linebacker Troy Dye (No. 43) sprinted from the other side of the formation to get underneath Henry.
With Henry bracketed with an underneath defender and a safety over the top, Maye had to look elsewhere.
However, the spacing on the play was poor, with three receivers bunched too closely. No one was open and the rush scheme created a free rusher who eventually chased Maye down.
Who else can the Patriots lean on next season on third downs? Presumably, it'll be free-agent addition Stefon Diggs, but the data isn't kind to receivers coming off of an ACL injury. Diggs is also 31 and was already seen as a player no longer in his prime. And a video of Diggs appearing to hand out an unknown pink substance to a group of women at a party on a boat has become a potential issue, so we'll see whether that leads to a suspension.
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If Diggs isn't the playmaker the Patriots thought they were getting and Williams needs some time to develop, Kendrick Bourne might be a go-to player for Maye in high-leverage situations. Bourne will be a year removed from an ACL injury that kept him out for most of last season and he's always been a sharp route runner with reliable hands.
Maye's play last season should have Patriots fans optimistic and the young pieces they added in the draft are exciting, but this is a very young offense that has to learn a difficult offensive system. It could take some time to get going this season but after a year marred by dysfunction, the makings of a bright future appear to be in place for New England.