Pats Pulpit
The wait is almost over. In just four days, the New England Patriots will officially open their 2025 regular season and with it a new chapter in franchise history.
The dynasty days are long gone, as is the disappointing Jerod Mayo experiment. Now, Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye are tasked with returning the team to NFL relevance. How quickly they will be able to do that will be seen, but the season opener agains the visiting Las Vegas Raiders this Sunday will provide a first glimpse into the organization’s trajectory and how far along the rebuild truly is.
In order for those big-picture questions to be answered, however, a handful of smaller ones are also waiting to be addressed. With Week 1 coming up, let’s take a look at some of them to find out where there still is uncertainty with the season’s start nearing.
When the Patriots selected Drake Maye third overall in last year’s draft, they did so with a clear vision in mind: he was to become the face of the franchise, and the heir to Tom Brady that former starting quarterback Mac Jones never turned out to be. There have been plenty of promising signs during his rookie season, but the honeymoon period is now over.
Heading into 2025, the Patriots expect Maye to make a sizable jump and truly establish himself as a player worth building around. So far this year, they did just that. From hiring Josh McDaniels as offensive coordinator, to making high-profile investments in free agency and the draft, the team was trying its best over the last few months to put its young passer in the best possible situation.
There are still plenty of questions to be asked about Maye’s support cast — more in a second — but the stage is set for him to showcase the growth the organization wants and expects to see. What it will look like, however, has yet to be determined; neither training camp nor preseason should be regarded as a truly accurate representation of where Maye stands at this particular point in his development. There have been glimpses both good and bad, but until live bullets start flying those are only that: glimpses.
Sunday will not be a determining moment for Maye either way. What it will be, however, is the first true status update since the end of his rookie campaign.
“Just anxious to get out there,” he said last week. “We’re going to be in front of a home crowd, hopefully a good crowd. Nerves-wise, I think I get nervous about the same amount every game out there. Back to high school, kind of the same. Not really nervous, just jitters getting out there. Once you get going in the game, I feel good. From here, just getting ready with the new guys. There are new guys we’re playing with, so kind of building chemistry with them in a game-like setting. But other...
