New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots found their franchise quarterback in Drake Maye. A division rival will hope to do the same soon.
Maye has guided the Patriots to a 9-2 start in an MVP-caliber season. The 23-year-old has taken a massive second-year leap after the Patriots went 4-13 last year.
While the Patriots are rolling behind Maye and Mike Vrabel, the New York Jets haven’t benefited from changing their quarterback and head coach. They’re 2-8 behind Aaron Glenn, whose franchise could target a signal-caller early in next year’s draft.
Earlier this week, via SNY, Glenn was asked if he’d rather build around a quarterback or first create a strong ecosystem for a young passer. The Jets head coach mentioned Maye after noting that some quarterbacks can make their skill-position players look better.
Glenn feels an evaluator can tell when a quarterback is talented enough to uplift his teammates.
“You can,” Glenn said. “I think when you go back, that’s one thing that I looked at Drake from last year. Even though it wasn’t a great year, you saw glimpses of him go out there playing with some of those young guys he had. Man, he was throwing those guys open, getting those guys a chance to make some plays.
“So, you kind of knew that he had that it factor.”
Maye didn’t dazzle in his first year, recording a modest 88.1 quarterback rating with 6.7 yards per pass attempt. The No. 3 pick has taken a seismic leap in 2025, entering Week 12 with a 113.2 passer rating and AFC-leading 8.9 yards per attempt.
Glenn recently got his first exposure to his new AFC East adversary. Maye led the Patriots to a Week 11 win over the Jets with 281 passing yards and one touchdown on “Thursday Night Football.”
The Jets will host the Patriots in the regular season’s penultimate week on Dec. 28.
