Pats Pulpit
The Patriots’ new roster construction approach fits perfectly with their new quarterback.
When the New England Patriots handed the keys to their organization over to Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo in their roles as director of scouting and head coach, respectively, they also committed to a new roster construction approach.
Whereas the team seemingly explored every avenue under the previous Bill Belichick-led regime, they would now focus primarily on drafting and developing players from within. Given Wolf’s background with the Green Bay Packers, where his father Ron was a Hall of Fame executive, this is no particular surprise.
From that perspective, the Patriots’ first-round draft pick fits to a T.
Drake Maye, who spent the last two years as the starting quarterback at North Carolina, is as promising a player as any in this year’s draft. He has the size and the arm talent few players — including some currently active NFL quarterbacks — possess.
He also is quite raw. His mechanics can be on and off, and his lack of experience is apparent. Belichick himself pointed this out on draft night while working as an analyst for ESPN.
If ever there was a high-profile Patriots draft pick in need of some serious development to reach his ceiling, Maye was it. Wolf and Mayo are not oblivious to that fact either, but they are confident they have the supporting structure in place to nurture his undeniable talent.
“Meeting with Coach [Alex] Van Pelt, Coach [Ben] McAdoo, Coach [T.J.] McCartney and talking through some of the development that he needed, some of the things they thought they could tighten up or fix in some cases,” said Wolf in response to a question about Maye being able to move past some of his current shortcomings.
“At the end of the day, we felt comfortable with those things and really betting on the talent and the kid. Drake is a relentless worker from all the indications that we have, and he’s going to be able to overcome some of the things in the areas that he needs to improve.”
Maye has shown that he can play grade-A football at the quarterback position. However, there was a certain streakiness to his game during his time at North Carolina.
Maye had a tendency to drift around the pocket and not keep a steady base, especially when his process was sped up or he wanted to maneuver around to evade pressure. This led to some wide-spray misses even on what should normally be easy, high-percentage throws.
He also is underexperienced when it comes to dissecting information and can get into panic mode on occasion. Both those things are a direct result of him starting only 26 combines games in college, which again goes back to the need for development.
Does this automatically mean Maye’s timeline will look different and he has to begin his pro career on the bench, backing up veteran Jacoby Brissett? For Jerod Mayo, that does not necessarily have to be the case....
