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Will New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye be named a team captain for the 2025 season?
The 22-year-old former No. 3 overall pick only has one year of NFL experience under his belt, but he’ll need to be an effective leader this season for the Patriots to have any success. Whether or not Maye’s leadership will come with the official title of team captain is still unknown.
Captains are traditionally named closer to the start of the regular season (in September), and Mike Vrabel’s Patriots don’t appear to be separating themselves from that practice.
Last season, under former head coach Jerod Mayo, the Patriots announced six team captains on September 2: Jacoby Brissett, David Andrews, Deatrich Wise Jr., Ja’Whaun Bentley, Jabrill Peppers, and Joe Cardona.
NBC Sports Boston’s Michael Hurley speculated this week that Maye might be named a captain but that it’s still something the second-year man will have to earn.
“Something that will, of course, help sort out the division of power in the leadership department will be the naming of team captains before the start of the regular season,” Hurley wrote. “While the starting quarterback of an NFL team is almost always a captain, it’s still an honor that Maye will have to earn to some degree this summer.”
Maye himself didn’t shy away from a question he was asked on Wednesday about potentially being named a captain.
“I think it’s a great honor,” Maye said, per CLNS Media. “I think it’s something that don’t take lightly around here, especially with Patriots teams in the past, with the captains they had. It’s an aspiration to be a captain, but there are a lot of guys on this team that deserve that and have played a long time in this league.”
Captaincy or not, Maye will be looking to build upon a rookie season in which he threw for 15 touchdowns and 2,276 yards to go along with a 66.6 completion percentage. Maye will need to limit his turnovers (10 interceptions in 2024), as New England’s margin for error will not always be substantial.
Maye and the Patriots have two preseason games remaining: Saturday, August 16, at the Minnesota Vikings, and Thursday, August 21, at the New York Giants.
New England will open up the 2025 regular season at home against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, September 7, at 1 p.m. ET. Gillette Stadium will be rocking.
