‘Drake has improved every day’: Drake Maye earned strong praise from a pair of Patriots defensive coaches
"He’s progressing and makes some great throws in practice against us."
Drake Maye has impressed coaches in Patriots practice to the point that at least one defensive assistant has disliked his unit going up against him behind the scenes.
Patriots cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino shared with MassLive’s Mark Daniels that the rookie quarterback has made plays in practice that caused him to confront Maye, but in a positive way.
“He’s progressing and makes some great throws in practice against us. I remember one specifically that I went in the next day and was like, ‘I hate you. That was a great throw,’” Pellegrino told Daniels. “He’s doing a good job so far. 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.’”
Maye hasn’t been able to show much of his progression beyond the practice field through the first three weeks of the season. The third overall pick opened the year as the Patriots’ backup quarterback, sitting behind Jacoby Brissett.
However, Maye made a cameo in the closing moments of the Patriots’ blowout loss to the Jets in Week 3, making his NFL debut. There were a few impressive moments from the rookie, completing 4 of 8 passes for 22 yards and rushing for 12 yards in his only drive of action.
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo briefly opened the door for Maye to possibly start in Week 4 against the 49ers, but ultimately said Brissett is still the team’s starting quarterback. Even though Maye isn’t the Patriots’ starting quarterback yet, Pellegrino wasn’t the only defensive coach to notice that the rookie has improved on the practice field.
“For me, Drake has improved every day. He’s improved from the first day he’s gotten in here,” Patriots defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington told reporters on Thursday. “I think he’s earning the trust and respect from his teammates, which is good. Which is what you need him to do. We ask every player to do that — to try and improve every day, try to be better than what you were yesterday. I think that’s what he’s working toward.
“I do know that it seems like he’s improving on a week-to-week, day-to-day basis.”
Despite Maye’s apparent improvement in practice, Mayo and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt have iterated on numerous occasions that they developmental plan in place for the quarterback. They haven’t shared when Maye could make his first start or even committed to him starting a game this season.
Still, Van Pelt is encouraged by what he’s seen from Maye behind the scenes through the first few weeks of the regular season.
“Really good. He’s continuing to grow,” Van Pelt told reporters on Thursday. “I think the game experience the other night will really help him moving forward.
“The plan’s in place, and I think we’re certainly seeing him starting to really grow on the practice field.”
There’s been some speculation that the plan for Maye to take over at starting quarterback could happen as soon as Week 5. He’s already received 30 percent of the reps in practice, which is considered to be an unusually high number for a backup.
Regardless of when Maye makes his first start, it seems like he’s already earned respect from the coaches on the other side of the ball.
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