Drake Maye has arrived . . .

[40yrpatsfan]

Interesting Maye content from a long-form article by Albert Breer:

And here’s some credit to the Patriots for having conviction in Drake Maye in 2024.

The opportunity was there for a team riddled with holes to build up capital by using the No. 3 pick as a trade chip. The Vikings offered the Patriots the 11th pick, the 23rd pick and their 2025 first-round pick (along with Day 3 pick swaps that favored Minnesota) to go up eight spots to No. 3 and get Maye. The Giants offered their 2025 first-rounder to move up three spots, from No. 6 to No. 3.

In the Giants scenario, the Patriots would’ve had their shot at Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix. In the Vikings scenario, they could’ve gotten McCarthy or Nix. And ultimately, they decided that Maye was better than those quarterbacks and the combination of draft capital they would’ve gotten after taking one of the other guys at No. 6 or No. 11.

It’s also a good reference point going forward that if you believe in a guy at that position, like the Patriots very much did that spring (they loved how Maye endured a tough 2023 season and refused to blame anyone else for it), the opportunity to get him is priceless.

Firing Their Head Coach Won’t Solve the Titans’ Real Problem

Letting Brian Callahan go is the latest in a series of destabilizing moves by owner Amy Adams Strunk.

www.si.com

The legend continues to grow!

This is a huge credit to Wolf.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

So u think if there was a disagreement on which player to take, and it was Wolf against Vrabs and others, that Wolf would actually have the “final say”? I do not. If he did, that’s one sure fire way to piss a HC off, a situation we’ve seen in the past with ours and other teams. That never ends well the long term relationship with a coach. Vrabs is obv way more important to our success than Wolf, I can’t imagine Kraft would allow a situation where Wolf could damage the relationship with Vrabs

Wolf is a lot more capable than he gets credit for here. Highsmith was hired by Wolf almost 2 years ago, so in the imaginary schism it's Wolf & Highsmith vs Cowden & Vrabel. I don't believe a schism exists, they all work together, and Kraft prefers a system of checks and balances so he's happy to have 4 guys of this stature (and different backgrounds) guiding the team. I think it's working.

Obviously, Wolf doesn't have the power or balls to try to fire Vrabel, that would be up to Kraft. But the opposite is also true. A powerful HC like MV is going to get the types of players he wants, and Wolf's crew will find those candidates.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

If the Pats had the first pick, they would have traded Cam Ward for a Top 10 pick in 25 (which they would have used on Campbell) & one or two additional first rounders. They would have been setup to dominate the league. Mayo should never show his face in New England for screwing that up.

As I've said before, I don't blame Mayo for winning in Week 18. I blame Mayo for being just the right level of incompetent the first 17 weeks that they were in that position in the first place.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Wolf is a lot more capable than he gets credit for here. Highsmith was hired by Wolf almost 2 years ago, so in the imaginary schism it's Wolf & Highsmith vs Cowden & Vrabel. I don't believe a schism exists, they all work together, and Kraft prefers a system of checks and balances so he's happy to have 4 guys of this stature (and different backgrounds) guiding the team. I think it's working.

Obviously, Wolf doesn't have the power or balls to try to fire Vrabel, that would be up to Kraft. But the opposite is also true. A powerful HC like MV is going to get the types of players he wants, and Wolf's crew will find those candidates.

The former makes the latter a moot point.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

The opportunity was there for a team riddled with holes to build up capital by using the No. 3 pick as a trade chip. The Vikings offered the Patriots the 11th pick, the 23rd pick and their 2025 first-round pick (along with Day 3 pick swaps that favored Minnesota) to go up eight spots to No. 3 and get Maye. The Giants offered their 2025 first-rounder to move up three spots, from No. 6 to No. 3.

In other words, they wanted some "change" back, so the Vikings effectively offered less than 3 first-rounders.

 

[KCSVEN]

Not sure if posted already but worth a second watch if so LOL

 

[Uptown]

 

[Uptown]

 

[Uptown]

 

[Uptown]

 

[Uptown]

The mere fact that he’s even in the discussion is wild. We told y’all, he’s HIM!

 

[TommyD4207]

Wolf is a lot more capable than he gets credit for here. Highsmith was hired by Wolf almost 2 years ago, so in the imaginary schism it's Wolf & Highsmith vs Cowden & Vrabel. I don't believe a schism exists, they all work together, and Kraft prefers a system of checks and balances so he's happy to have 4 guys of this stature (and different backgrounds) guiding the team. I think it's working.

Obviously, Wolf doesn't have the power or balls to try to fire Vrabel, that would be up to Kraft. But the opposite is also true. A powerful HC like MV is going to get the types of players he wants, and Wolf's crew will find those candidates.

Highsmith was hired by Jonathan Kraft.

 

[WhatJustHappened]

I feel this is the biggest win by the Pats since SB 53. That’s almost 7 years. Maye was fantastic vs the best or 2nd best team in football, in THEIR stadium. He made SPECIAL plays all game long, especially in the 2nd half, 13 for 14 in the 2nd half ! Mostly against the blitz. Also, let’s not forget, there was virtually no running game, so it was all Maye.

That being said, I’m holding out for a little bit. Is he a top 15 QB, definitely, is he a top 10, probably, but I want to see a lot of consistency until I claim he has arrived. This was obviously a huge moment in his career, it just felt different, definitely a statement game.

Right now, he is playing with a ton of confidence, and even mistakes don’t bring him down, he just keeps fighting even after he makes mistakes. His mind set is extremely encouraging.

Yesterday (10/5) was my 63rd birthday, so this was a fantastic surprise. Being 63, I’ve seen A LOT of Pat’s QBs, and Maye’s performance was pretty incredible. I’ve seen guys like Grogan and Eason have BIG games vs great teams and come away with wins. Of course Bledsoe doing big things in his career, even early in his career. Don’t even have to say anything about Brady, he was the GOAT, and it wasn’t even close. So I’ve see some great things when it comes to Pat’s QBs.

What I love about Maye is he truly is a modern QB, super athletic, great at throwing in the run, great at extending plays. He’s just different, we’ve never had a QB that had the tools Maye has. He will be considered a top 5 QB when the performance he had last night becomes routine. Then I will feel like he arrived.

What's with the Novel?
I fkn hate novels.

 

[n1997y]

I found some interesting things chasing tangents from the thread about Luke Maye’s Senior Day oration.

I hadn’t realized Drake’s dad Mark Maye was on Tampa Bay’s PS for a year. He’d been starting QB for UNC for a couple of years, but a torn labrum in his throwing arm derailed his career.

Interesting connection from those days was his college roommate, a LB named Brett Rudolph. They remained very close friends after college, raising their families in the same area of NC. Drake’s older brother Luke played a lot of backyard basketball against Rudolph’s son Mason.

Yep, Mason Rudolph was a family friend. So not only was Drake getting coached by Josh McCown in high school, he was hanging with other NFL QBs as a teenager.

Here’s the story, gives some interesting family history. Plus there is even a cameo appearance by Josh Dobbs, competing with Mason Rudolph for the Steelers job.

‘That’s my boy!’: The brotherly bond between Steelers QB Mason Rudolph and Tar Heels hero Luke Maye

 

[n1997y]

Interesting Maye content from a long-form article by Albert Breer:

And here’s some credit to the Patriots for having conviction in Drake Maye in 2024.

The opportunity was there for a team riddled with holes to build up capital by using the No. 3 pick as a trade chip. The Vikings offered the Patriots the 11th pick, the 23rd pick and their 2025 first-round pick (along with Day 3 pick swaps that favored Minnesota) to go up eight spots to No. 3 and get Maye. The Giants offered their 2025 first-rounder to move up three spots, from No. 6 to No. 3.

In the Giants scenario, the Patriots would’ve had their shot at Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix. In the Vikings scenario, they could’ve gotten McCarthy or Nix. And ultimately, they decided that Maye was better than those quarterbacks and the combination of draft capital they would’ve gotten after taking one of the other guys at No. 6 or No. 11.

It’s also a good reference point going forward that if you believe in a guy at that position, like the Patriots very much did that spring (they loved how Maye endured a tough 2023 season and refused to blame anyone else for it), the opportunity to get him is priceless.

Firing Their Head Coach Won’t Solve the Titans’ Real Problem

Letting Brian Callahan go is the latest in a series of destabilizing moves by owner Amy Adams Strunk.

www.si.com

The legend continues to grow!

Interesting point about Minnesota’s offer is that their QB coach was Josh McCown, who had coached Drake in high school.

He might’ve known something.

 

[PatriotSpy]

I remember early in Brady's career reading how the Patriots staff gave him a military book to read to help mold his leadership. It might have been a book about General Patton I don't remember. Well Brady turned out to be the ultimate field general.

We need to get Maye to read one of those military books. He can read it on the sidelines like AJ Brown does with his books.

 

[PatriotSpy]

Right now I look at the last 6 quarters of Drake Maye... and I ask myself this question, how much more can he improve? Assuming consistency how close are we to his ceiling?

When i look at his game only a few things stick out as potential areas. One is his manipulation of the defense. He does this already, but it could be better. The biggest one is being able to actually call a game under center. I practically never see him change plays at the line or manage the pre snap movement. I don't expect him to be Brady level here and this was his specialty, but looking at his game right now this is the single biggest thing i think he currently lacks. Not surprising as he is a young QB.

I think he can improve on his out routes. Just working with his receivers so he can throw with anticipation before they break out.

He can also improve his footwork even more. I don't see him do that little side step shuffle that Brady and Montana and now Mahomes incorporated into their game.

On a few occasions, I have seen him come off his first read and start to run after getting something post snap that he wasn't expecting. I saw it once in the saints game and once during the bills game when they showed man but dropped into zone post snap.

safety rotation post snap is still a work in progress...Bills did a lot of that and we missed out on some opportunities. That's something to keep a watch on moving forward.

The last two points shows me he still has work to do reading defenses which is expected as he's only in his 2nd NFL season.

This is all good stuff because as good as he's playing and as talented as he is, he still has room for improvement which is scary. I remember an old interview WEEI did with Brady in the early 2000s. The interviewer mentioned to Brady how Larry Bird as great as he was, always made a point to improve some aspect of his game every off season. Well, that's what Brady ended up doing!

 

[Zuma]

I found some interesting things chasing tangents from the thread about Luke Maye’s Senior Day oration.

I hadn’t realized Drake’s dad Mark Maye was on Tampa Bay’s PS for a year. He’d been starting QB for UNC for a couple of years, but a torn labrum in his throwing arm derailed his career.

Interesting connection from those days was his college roommate, a LB named Brett Rudolph. They remained very close friends after college, raising their families in the same area of NC. Drake’s older brother Luke played a lot of backyard basketball against Rudolph’s son Mason.

Yep, Mason Rudolph was a family friend. So not only was Drake getting coached by Josh McCown in high school, he was hanging with other NFL QBs as a teenager.

Here’s the story, gives some interesting family history. Plus there is even a cameo appearance by Josh Dobbs, competing with Mason Rudolph for the Steelers job.

‘That’s my boy!’: The brotherly bond between Steelers QB Mason Rudolph and Tar Heels hero Luke Maye

I wouldn't hate Mason Rudolph replacing Dobbs as backup in the off-season.

 

[NormZauchin]

Why not go from Brady to Maye. Green Bay went from Favre to Rodgers to Love.

Mayo going for the win caused us to get Campbell, Not Maye.

The Niners went from Montana to Young.

 

[dliverey44]

He also doesn’t need to stay here and play second fiddle to Vrabel. Once again I think Josh will stay for a while because it is a comfortable gig for him but in the event that an opportunity did arise I’m pretty confident he would opt for the money. I would too.

I agree with your premise, but I do not think that he is 2nd fiddle to Vrabel. I say this because the offense is McD's baby and Vrabes has nothing to do with that as far as play design.