As Jerod Mayo begins his tenure as the leader of the New England Patriots, he opted to grab his quarterback of the future during the 2024 NFL Draft in former North Carolina star Drake Maye.
Now, it’s up to Maye to live up to the expectations set on him in New England. He’s seen what can happen to other first-round picks if you can’t get the job done at quarterback for the Patriots, as Mac Jones is now languishing in Jacksonville as Trevor Lawrence’s backup with the Jaguars.
Maye would like to be more Tom Brady than Mac Jones with New England, as that’s an easy choice for the former Tar Heels star. As minicamp wrapped for the Patriots, Mayo provided some insight into how Maye’s been adjusting to the professional level, and where he currently stands with New England.
“Yeah, he’s done a great job,” Mayo responded, asked how happy he is with Maye’s growth this spring. “He’s going the right direction. Now, in saying that, we know there’s going to be some down days, and that’s one thing that I’ve been trying to stress to him is, ‘Alright, just keep chipping at the rock. Get 1% better every day.’ It’s not always going to be great, and he’s done a good job.”
Alas, Maye possesses the talent to make it in the NFL. Even though he was the third quarterback drafted back in April, multiple teams were pining to trade up for Maye at the No. 3 selection, wishing for a chance to bring the former ACC superstar to their team.
Instead it’s the Patriots who ended up with Drake Maye, and now they’ll be looking to keep him in New England for a long, long time. We’ll see if he can cultivate his talent and turn into the same talented, winning quarterback everyone fell in love with in North Carolina when it comes to the NFL.
Drake Maye describes his experience learning from Tom Brady
As he gets accustomed to the NFL, Drake Maye is learning from a Patriots legend while he begins his time in New England, spending some time with Tom Brady.
The third-overall pick from the 2024 NFL Draft, Maye has massive expectations on his shoulders at the moment. While Brady didn’t come into the NFL with similar expectations, he certainly developed them over the course of his career.
Speaking with the media, Maye explained what it was like to learn from Brady for a bit when the pair linked up earlier in May, and what the legendary No. 12 for the Patriots has taught him so far.
“It was awesome,” Maye said, regarding the experience of spending some time with Brady. “Getting a chance to be around Tom, seeing how he’s wired — he’s wired different.
“He’s the GOAT, so just getting a chance to hear some wisdom from him, was an awesome experience. I look forward to hopefully asking him some more questions.”
If there’s one shoulder Maye can lean on as he develops as an NFL quarterback, Brady is a pretty awesome source of information to have. Nobody is saying the former North Carolina quarterback is going to turn into TB12, but utilizing the resources that he has, Maye can develop into a top quarterback if he cultivates his talent.
Time will tell, and it’s going to take some time, but New England is excited about Drake Maye, and the Patriots are hoping he has as lengthy and successful of a tenure as Tom Brady had with the franchise.
