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Drake Maye struggles early and 5 other takeaways from Patriots’ OTA practice
"That's probably the biggest priority in this league. Turnovers win and lose football games in this league."
The Patriots’ offseason workouts are well underway.
New England kicked off its slate of organized team activities (OTAs) on Monday — a four-week program where 11-on-11, 7-on-7, and 9-on-7 drills are permitted.
While there is no contact during OTAs, they offer a chance for teams to begin to set the foundation for their roster before the prep work for a new season begins in earnest in late July during training camp.
“This is a non-contact camp and time of year, but I think the receivers and the DBs can certainly look to mirror, shadow, react and still go make plays on the football and try to stay up,” Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said of how players can make the most of OTAs. “It’s hard to — maybe the running backs you can evaluate. Are they picking up the right person in protection? Not necessarily sure if they’re going to be able to block them, but are they getting to the right guy?
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“Quarterbacks, operation, the urgency in which we practice are things that are important. Our tempo, the way that we finish plays, our effort and continue to build the identity. Are we taking care of the football? Are we running with it in the open field? Things like that.”
New England will hold 10 days of OTA work over the next three weeks, with this segment of the NFL offseason ending with a mandatory minicamp from June 9-11.
Media is allowed to attend one OTA session a week, starting with Tuesday’s reps at Gillette Stadium.
Here are six takeaways from Tuesday’s practice:
Drake Maye struggles early
As is always the case when it comes to OTAs and the early days of training camp, New England’s defense had the upper hand on Tuesday against Drake Maye and the Patriots’ offense.
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It was a rough start for Maye, who was knocked for four interceptions during the team’s initial 11-on-11 session.
On his first throw, Maye’s attempted pass toward rookie wideout Kyle Williams was snagged by safety Dell Pettus. Maye’s next throw wasn’t any better, as a pass intended for DeMario Douglas was picked off by Christian Gonzalez.
Gonzalez secured his second interception of the session when a deep overthrow from Maye toward Williams was hauled in by the third-year corner. The following play resulted in another interception, with a tipped throw intended for Hunter Henry grabbed by a diving Craig Woodson.
Maye bounced back despite that rough showing, completing seven of his final eight throws during 11-on-11s.
“It’s early in the sense of, like, ‘Alright, we can fix these things.’ But, I mean, obviously we don’t want to put the ball in harm’s way,”Henry said of turnovers. “I mean, that’s probably the biggest priority in this league. Turnovers win and lose football games in this.
“So that’s a huge priority of ours on offense that we got to be better at. We weren’t good at that last year. So, yeah, we got to fix that now, for sure. But I like the way that we bounce back and we just keep playing because, like I said, things don’t really go your way always.”
Gonzalez starts strong
While Maye struggled in the early going, New England’s other top star in Gonzalez was a force in coverage during 11-on-11s.
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Only so much can be gleaned from non-contact drills, but Gonzalez regularly made the right reads to both undercut routes and reel in overthrows.
While Gonzalez should be poised to take another step forward after an All-Pro season in 2024, the former first-round pick said Tuesday that he’s excited to work alongside new free-agent signing Carlton Davis in New England’s secondary.
“It’s gonna be awesome just learning and playing with CD,” Gonzalez said of Davis. “I mean, he’s been in it, he’s played in the Super Bowl, so he’s seen it at the highest level. He’s done it.
“So that’s only not great for me, but for the whole room to just have his voice in there and just pick up tips from him, anything he can learn from us, we can learn from him. And, you know, just chopping it up, piggybacking ideas, how we play certain things, it’s gonna be awesome.”
Attendance report
Even though OTAs are voluntary, the Patriots had strong attendance on Tuesday.
Only five players were missing from Tuesday’s practice: Stefon Diggs, Mack Hollins, Rhamondre Stevenson, Sidy Sow, and Joshua Farmer.
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Diggs is working his way back from a torn ACL suffered in October, while other players like Ja’Lynn Polk, Morgan Moses, Michael Onwenu, and Vederian Lowe were limited. Christian Barmore, who said last week that he’s cleared for football activities after dealing with blood-clotting issues in 2024, was a regular participant.
Regarding Stevenson’s absence, ESPN’s Mike Reiss reporting earlier this week that Stevenson’s father, Robert, passed away in March at age 54. Reiss added that Stevenson also lost his childhood friend, Brandan Harley, last season.
“I’ve been in constant communication with him,” Vrabel said of Stevenson. “Obviously, our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family as they heal and they grieve. I want to be a part of that to help them and get to know him.
“I met him early on and then he went back, and now those conversations have just been over the telephone. … He’s going to be a large part of what we do, and we’ll just have to determine where he’s at when he’s back here.”
Early look at offensive line
With several veterans limited on Tuesday, it was tough to glean a consistent five-man grouping on the offensive line. But during warmups, the starting five-man unit featured Will Campbell, Cole Strange, Garrett Bradbury, Mike Onwenu, and Morgan Moses.
While Onwenu and Moses weren’t full participants, Campbell — the No. 4 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft — remained entrenched at left tackle through the practice.
Rookies stand out
While training camp is usually where roster battles start to take shape, Vrabel believes that process has already started to ramp up, especially with New England’s influx of rookies.
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“I hope that it already has. Life’s a competition,” Vrabel said of roster battles. “Everything we do every day, we’re trying to improve and we’re trying to do better than the next person.
“But whether that’s a competitiveness to know what to do, to be able to play more than one position, to go extra reps when somebody’s down and take advantage of opportunities, young guys popping in there …I think that there’s always a level of competition to what we do. It just may not be as physical as what it would be in training camp.”
While rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson showed some explosiveness and reeled in a few throws from Maye, undrafted rookie wideout Efton Chism III was also a standout, snagging multiple catches during 11-on-11s.
Chisholm — who projects as a slot receiver after setting several receiver records at Eastern Washington — joined fellow rookie Kyle Williams as the final players putting in work on the field Tuesday.
Across the field, rookie kicker Andy Borregales made all four of his kicks on Tuesday, while fellow kicker John Parker Romo went 2-for-4 on his attempts.
No focus on schedule
The Patriots unveiled their schedule for the 2025 season last week, with New England set to open a new season on Sept. 7 at home against the Las Vegas Raiders.
But even with New England granted a favorable schedule during Vrabel’s first season, the Patriots’ head coach didn’t want to focus on his team’s upcoming slate.
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“I just make sure that we’ve got 17 games. Nine of them are at home this year and eight of them are on the road, then we go from there,” Vrabel said. “We’re so far from looking at opponents right now at this point in the game. We’re just really trying to focus on ourselves, individual improvement, continue to build the identity that we try to talk about, and that’s where my focus is today.”
The Patriots will take part in two joint practices this preseason, Vrabel confirmed. Ahead of New England’s first preseason game, the Patriots will host the Washington Commanders for practice in the second week of August in Foxborough.
The following week, the Patriots will travel to Minnesota and take part in joint practices with the Vikings ahead of another preseason game on August 16.
“I think for sure that the Washington Commanders will come here and then they’ll play us,” Vrabel said. “And then we are excited to go to Minnesota. It’s a good setup that they have. It allows for great work. The Vikings have an excellent football team, and we have worked with them before, so we’re excited to go back up there.”
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