When the New England Patriots selected quarterback Drake Maye with the third overall pick of the NFL Draft back in April, they were hoping he would be the future.
They weren’t expecting one of their coaches to hate him.
But apparently, that’s exactly what has happened…but not the way you’re thinking.
Apparently, Maye has been so good in practice that Patriots cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino can’t seem to find an answer for him.
“He’s progressing and makes some great throws in practice against us,” Pellegrino said, via Mark Daniels of MassLive.com. “I remember one specifically that I went in the next day and was like, ‘I hate you. That was a great throw.'”
That’s one heck of a compliment.
“He’s doing a good job so far,” added Pellegrino. “He stuck one in between tight coverage on a new call that we had a couple of weeks ago. It was like, ‘I really wish he didn’t make that throw, but you did.'”
Jacoby Brissett remains New England’s starting quarterback, but that may have more to do with trying to protect Maye from the Pats’ horrendous offensive line than anything else.
The last thing the Patriots want is a repeat of the Mac Jones debacle, so you can understand why they are treating Maye with kid gloves.
Maye made his NFL regular-season debut against the New York Jets in Week 3, going 4-for-8 with 22 yards in a brief fourth-quarter appearance.
The University of North Carolina product was considered a very raw prospect coming out of college, but many loved his potential right from the jump.
Evidently, the 22-year-old is already making quite the impression in Foxborough, so much so that he is getting 30 percent of the first-team reps in practice.
We’ll see if Maye ends up supplanting Brissett for the starting role at some point in 2024.
