Morning Sports Update

Former Patriot Damien Woody thinks Drake Maye was one of the winners from the 2025 NFL Draft

"I really like what New England did."

Drake Maye Patriots draft
Drake Maye during the Pro Bowl Games in February. Vera Nieuwenhuis/AP

Drake Maye a “winner” coming out of the draft: While it’s way too early to make definitive statements about the recently-concluded 2025 NFL Draft, one former Patriot is nonetheless predicting that the team’s current starting quarterback was a major winner.

The Patriots selected a left tackle fourth overall in Will Campbell as well as several other potentially helpful players to feature around second-year quarterback Drake Maye. As a result, ex-Patriots offensive lineman Damien Woody (now an ESPN analyst) believes the 22-year-old was one of the “winners” from this year’s draft.

“How about Drake Maye?” Woody mentioned during a “Get Up!” segment on Monday discussing the “winners and losers” from the draft. “I really like what New England did.

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“You go out there obviously at the No. 4 pick, you get Will Campbell. You get the left tackle out of LSU to protect the blind side,” said Woody. “Then you come back in the second round, you get TreVeyon Henderson, the explosive running back from Ohio State to add some juice in the running game.

“Then in the third round you get Kyle Williams, the wide receiver from Washington State, who I think is going to [be] a factor in the passing game for the Pats,” Woody explained.

Fellow analyst Pete Schrager noted that the Patriots added four offensive lineman to help protect Maye. Show host Mike Greenberg concluded it was “what they needed.”

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The consensus among draft grades was that the Patriots, as Woody pointed out, addressed several roster needs to specifically help the young quarterback.

Scores and schedules:

The Celtics defeated the Magic 107-98 in Game 4 of the first-round series on Sunday. Boston now leads the series 3-1 ahead of Tuesday’s Game 5 back at TD Garden.

The Red Sox defeated the Guardians 13-3 on Sunday. Boston begins a new three-game series in Toronto against the Blue Jays on Tuesday at 7:07 p.m.

Tonight, the Boston Fleet face the Victoire in Montreal tonight at 7 p.m.

More from Boston.com:

A relatable baseball moment: “The Giants win the game on a Little League home run.”

On this day: In 2009, the Celtics overcame the Bulls 106-104 in overtime to win Game 5 of the first-round playoff series. Paul Pierce (26 points) and Rajon Rondo (28 points, 11 assists) helped Boston in the clutch, with the Celtics eventually winning the series in seven games.

2009 Celtics Bulls Globe Sports

Daily highlight: From Saturday, here’s a typical Savannah Bananas moment (played in front of a sellout crowd at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium).

Hayden Bird

Sports Staff

Hayden Bird is a sports staff writer for Boston.com, where he has worked since 2016. He covers all things sports in New England.

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