Ask any NFL analyst or former player to assess Drake Maye's rookie season, and most will tell you the New England Patriots quarterback exceeded their expectations.
Despite playing with a patchwork offensive line and one of the NFL's worst wide receiver groups, Maye still threw for 2,276 yards with 15 touchdown passes in 13 games, while also adding 421 rushing yards and two TDs on the ground.
Considering he entered the year as one of the youngest and least polished QBs atop the 2024 NFL Draft class -- which included Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix -- Maye made remarkable progress in a relatively short time period.
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"I was so impressed with Drake," Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner told host Phil Perry on the latest Next Pats Podcast. "After watching him in college and seeing some of the deficiencies -- whether that was technical deficiencies or holding on the football too (long) -- some of those things I thought, 'It may take him a little bit of time to get there.'
"When he finally got his chance to start in the NFL, I thought he was incredibly impressive. His technique was better, he was accurate with the football, he got the football out -- all the things that I wondered if he could do right away in the NFL, he showed me he could do."
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Maye was far from perfect, however, and turnovers might have been his biggest flaw. The 22-year-old turned the ball over 16 times in 13 games (10 interceptions and six fumbles) and threw at least one interception in all but three of his starts.
Many of Maye's turnovers were a result of the young QB forcing the issue and trying to make a play when things broke down around him. But Warner believes new Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will provide some much-needed structure that could help Maye hit more singles and doubles instead of going for the home run.
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"I think it's going to be a really, really good match based on what I saw Drake do last year," Warner said of McDaniels. "I think he's always going to give Drake options. The one thing that we would talk about with Tom (Brady) a lot was, they would play a little bit more 'small ball.' ... A lot of their offenses would kind of pick you apart and take what the defense gives you, and (they gave) Tom easy options more often than I think Drake had this year.
"That's one thing that I think Josh will do a great job of: 'I'm going to give you chances to just complete balls and move the chains and not have to make the big throw or the big run all the time to do things.' I think he's great at scheming."
Previous offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt deserves credit for developing Maye during training camp and the preseason. But he had the rookie QB run a fairly simple offense during the season that featured relatively few audibles and even fewer designed runs. If Maye is up to the task, it sounds like McDaniels will give the UNC product more agency in the 2025 offense, which should help Maye get into better play calls and could in turn help him cut back on the turnovers.
"I think Josh will be great at teaching Drake the game and giving him options to be able to get into the best play imaginable, so it can be a little bit easier on Drake this year than I thought it was last year," Warner added.
Also in this episode:
- Phil breaks down Field Yates' mock draft.
- Brandon Bolden joins Phil on Radio Row to discuss what he thinks it would be like to get recruited by Belichick and how he will relate to college kids.
- How similar will Mike Vrabel be to Bill Belichick?
- Bolden has a great story about Tim Tebow