Pats Pulpit
While another sporting event has taken center stage at Gillette Stadium, the New England Patriots are on to their summer break. The team of head coach Mike Vrabel wrapped up its mandatory minicamp on Thursday, and with the exception of its rookie class is now officially in vacation mode.
Before we do the same — there are only so many Patriots talking points available between now and training camp — let’s clean out the notebook from the week that was. Welcome to the latest edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.
Drake Maye was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in 2025, but as the playoffs in particular showed there is still plenty of room for growth for the 23-year-old. In order to help him take those next steps in his second year in the Patriots’ new offense, the coaching staff is trying to push his limits and explore one area in particular.
“We’re trying to weaponize Drake’s mind,” said quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant, “and all the quarterback’s minds. As opposed to just being throwers of the football, we want them to be operators of the offense.”
Mandatory minicamp saw multiple examples of that in practice, with the Patriots oftentimes pushing the tempo on offense while also having Maye assess the defense and make calls on the line. Operational speed and decision making were both focal points for Grant and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
“If we’re going to put the onus on the quarterback to have more responsibility, let’s practice giving him the freedom to have that responsibility, just to exercise those things,” Grant explained. “When you’re a quarterback, and when you’re on the ball, and you have somebody telling you what to do, it’s easy to operate. You can tone the thinking down a little bit, so to speak.
“But when you’re in charge of the operation, the communication, getting all of the other 10 guys on the same page, but you have no play call, then it’s pretty cool to see him start to calculate, ‘OK, what is the matchup? Do I think a pressure is coming? Do I have time to get the ball off? What play do I want to get to?’ For him to tune in, it gives him some ownership of the offense as well.”
Maye himself is welcoming the increased pressure that was added to his practice routine.
“It’s trying to be a play caller,” the MVP runner-up said. “It’s tough in this environment when they’ve got 18 seconds on the clock in practice and I’m trying to do a hard count and trying to get us in a play that we like. I think it’s awesome to challenge me and to push my limits of knowing the offense, knowing what play looks good against what the defense has up.
“The best thing that we’ve been trying to focus on is limiting negative plays. Negative plays in this league put you behind the chains, whether it’s in the...
