New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye took a step back in the QB1 race this summer. The rookie quarterback reportedly had his worst day of training camp on Monday. It was the first padded practice for the Patriots.
Drake Maye is learning how to bounce back
Maye has had his ups and downs during practice last week. While he made some impressive throws, he also threw an ugly pick-six to Matthew Judon on Friday. As previously discussed on GH, Maye said he was learning to bounce back to the next play after making poor throws in practice:
“You can’t ride the ups and downs,” Maye said. “Every play is a new play. I just can’t be too hard on myself. Sometimes, I get hard on myself, especially like I said, throwing my first interception, but yeah, just kind of bounce back. It’s how you bounce back in this league. And I’m trying to learn that.”
On Monday, Judon wasn’t on the field to go against Maye, and the star linebacker left the practice field following an animated conversion with the Patriots leadership. Even without Judon and Christian Barmore (dealing with blood clots) on the field, the Patriots have enough talent on defense to scare any first-round quarterback.
And Maye was shaken.
Drake Maye had one completion during the 11-on-11 period
According to Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, Maye had his worst day of practice since entering the league, including at spring OTAs. He completed only one pass during the 11-on-11 drill. Callahan named Brissett one of the day’s winners.
Maye’s inaccuracies started without a pass rush:
In the opening 7-on-7 period, Maye went 2-of-6 with an interception. He followed that performance with one completion over two 11-on-11 drills: a slant to Javon Baker that was nearly broken up. Maye had multiple bad misses and took a couple of sacks. Chalk it up to growing pains.
Jacoby Brissett looks like the clear QB1
Brissett had a solid day during the 7-on-7 drill and the 11-on-11 drill, while Maye took sacks and used poor form to throw passes:
Brissett hit passes at all three levels during an opening 7-on-7 period, finding four different receivers while Maye found two teammates and Kyle Dugger on an interception. After Maye went 2-of-6 in that drill, he made three straight hand-offs and took a sack during the team’s initial, run-focused 11-on-11 period. Over the final full-team sessions, Maye went 1-of-4, including a contested slant throw and one drop, then misfired over the middle and took a sack.
The rookie missed behind and ahead of receivers and struggled in crowded pockets. Maye is struggling to throw with a proper base in those situations, which has affected his accuracy. As for Brissett, his 6-of-7 showing during full-team periods included two deep strikes and completions to all the Pats’ starting tight ends and receivers.
Brissett is expected to be the most polished quarterback on the Patriots roster at this point of training camp. However, Maye’s performance on Monday wasn’t close to Brissett’s level. It might be a while before Maye is ready to challenge for the QB1 job.
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