Maye must play

[Ross12]

I really hate the comparisons to other QBs being made.

What happened to some other QB who is a completely different person in a completely different offense working with completely different players under completely different coaching hundreds or thousands of miles away has absolutely nothing to do with what the QB in Foxboro will do.

Some guys start on day 1, they flame out. Others start on day 1 and become Hall of Famers. Obviously having a star-studded cast around the guy would be dandy, but the career trajectory of the player is 90% up to the player himself.

It's not like he's going to get hit far less in 2025. Sure, he might have a better left tackle, but hits and pressures are the name of the game for QBs in the NFL these days. You can either deal with it or you can't. They need to know if he can, and there's lots of reason to believe that he can, because he did in North Carolina.

What he needs to fix is learning the game pro game itself (learned through live reps) and his mechanics, which will be a long term work in progress. But hell, even if he never actually fixes his mechanics, he might still be a great QB anyway. Bubble wrapping the kid for so long is such a waste IMO.

 

[n1997y]

An interesting outside perspective…

The New York Jets are well-versed in ruining young QBs, from Geno Smith to Bryce Petty to Christian Hackenberg to Sam Darnold to Zach Wilson. Darnold and Wilson were No. 3 overall and No. 2 overall draft picks, respectively, and both didn't make it past their rookie contracts in New York.
…
SNY's Connor Hughes, who has covered the Jets for the last 10 years, joined Tom E. Curran on the latest Patriots Talk Podcast to share his take on the Maye debate based on what he's witnessed in New York.

When should Patriots play Maye? Jets reporter shares important context

 

[archstanton543]

An interesting outside perspective…




When should Patriots play Maye? Jets reporter shares important context

No mention of the immortal Mike White?

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I have been really positive on wolf.. that's the one area I critique him on the tackle position was just an obvious miss.. we were counting on guys like Anderson, Okorafor and lowe and Wheatley Jr.

One area?

You must have missed Wolf's press conference where he said the OL was going to be OK. Everyone laughed at Wolf. Everyone was right.

Polk is our draft pick to be a #1 WR? Did you miss Polk on the end around last Sunday? Let's politely admit that Polk should never run another end around for the rest of his career. Polk is OK, not a top of R2 talent.

We have the most cap space in 2025 and 2026, so what did we do? Saved more cap space in 2024 to roll over into 2025. Again a Wolf miss.

Did you see Judon's meltdown in camp? Again Wolf handled Judon's contract negotiations poorly. Other players remember that.

One area? Wolf is off to a terrible start in all areas.

Do you remember a poster who said Wolf should be GM of the Year? Funnier than Seinfeld.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I really hate the comparisons to other QBs being made.

What happened to some other QB who is a completely different person in a completely different offense working with completely different players under completely different coaching hundreds or thousands of miles away has absolutely nothing to do with what the QB in Foxboro will do.

Well said.

Some guys start on day 1, they flame out. Others start on day 1 and become Hall of Famers. Obviously having a star-studded cast around the guy would be dandy, but the career trajectory of the player is 90% up to the player himself.

Well said.

It's not like he's going to get hit far less in 2025. Sure, he might have a better left tackle, but hits and pressures are the name of the game for QBs in the NFL these days. You can either deal with it or you can't. They need to know if he can, and there's lots of reason to believe that he can, because he did in North Carolina.

Well said.

What he needs to fix is learning the game pro game itself (learned through live reps) and his mechanics, which will be a long term work in progress. But hell, even if he never actually fixes his mechanics, he might still be a great QB anyway. Bubble wrapping the kid for so long is such a waste IMO.

Well said.

You forgot that every QB needs 1 to 2 years seeing live bullets to adjust to the NFL speed of play. The earlier the QB starts that process, the sooner the QB will complete that process. We only have about 5 years of Maye under the rookie price control structure. We need to get Maye up to speed as fast as possible to have extra cap space to sign up to 3 additional top FAs. If successful Maye is going to a $70+M a year guy starting in Y6.

 

[patfanken]

I think this is where people get mixed up. If Tom Brady had played on 2000 he wouldn’t have played as well as he did in 2001. But if he had played in 2000 he would have been better in 2001 than he was by not playing in 2000.i

I'm not sure this is correct either. Did you SEE Brady's draft picture? Well of course you have. THAT is the risk you take. But it is a risk. Just look at the Panther situation.

BTW, I'm not advocating that he sits the ENTIRE year. But we aren't even out of September yet. There is a reason that rookie QBs with bad teams USUALLY don't work for the betterment of the player, It's too risky. For all the pluses of actual game experience, you run the risk of developing bad habits. You can fall into bad footwork, not believing what your eyes see, losing confidence, start to see ghosts, etc. Then there is the risk of injury and not being comfortable working in the pocket and knowing when to get out of there

BTW your assertion that Brady would have been better off getting more snaps in games in 2000, is about as about as accurate as mine about the number of years Williams spent in college. I guess I mixed is age and years in college with Pennix, sorry about that.

 

[Real fan 02]

One area?

You must have missed Wolf's press conference where he said the OL was going to be OK. Everyone laughed at Wolf. Everyone was right.

Polk is our draft pick to be a #1 WR? Did you miss Polk on the end around last Sunday? Let's politely admit that Polk should never run another end around for the rest of his career. Polk is OK, not a top of R2 talent.

We have the most cap space in 2025 and 2026, so what did we do? Saved more cap space in 2024 to roll over into 2025. Again a Wolf miss.

Did you see Judon's meltdown in camp? Again Wolf handled Judon's contract negotiations poorly. Other players remember that.

One area? Wolf is off to a terrible start in all areas.

Do you remember a poster who said Wolf should be GM of the Year? Funnier than Seinfeld.

It's hard for me to look at it that way. Not saying your wrong if that's your perception. But he inherited a 4-13 team. With a bottom roster. Drafted the 3rd overall pick.. FA wasn't desirable as Ridley was the biggest WR available. No one was absolutely rushing to come here.

The tackle position was just butchered last season as a fix to the problem was never found. Wheatley, Reiff, Anderson, Lowe, chuks... at this point wolf should have at least contacted bahktiari.. he can't be possibly any worse than what we have. Also key guys were retained to be part of the rebuild and going forward.

 

[PatsFan2]

One area?

You must have missed Wolf's press conference where he said the OL was going to be OK. Everyone laughed at Wolf. Everyone was right.

Polk is our draft pick to be a #1 WR? Did you miss Polk on the end around last Sunday? Let's politely admit that Polk should never run another end around for the rest of his career. Polk is OK, not a top of R2 talent.

We have the most cap space in 2025 and 2026, so what did we do? Saved more cap space in 2024 to roll over into 2025. Again a Wolf miss.

Did you see Judon's meltdown in camp? Again Wolf handled Judon's contract negotiations poorly. Other players remember that.

One area? Wolf is off to a terrible start in all areas.

Do you remember a poster who said Wolf should be GM of the Year? Funnier than Seinfeld.

One-if: the season just started we've played two games and could have won both. Regarding Polk I have no problem with the pick I scouted him last Draft. Better QB Play - OL and Play calling will help us to evaluate Polk better. It takes a couple of years sometimes Three to know what you have in a WR. I would go out on a limb and say if Maye was Starting we would be saying how good our Receivers are. Wolf being GM of the year is not off the table Whoa yee of so little faith.

 

[Real fan 02]

One-if: the season just started we've played two games and could have won both. Regarding Polk I have no problem with the pick I scouted him last Draft. Better QB Play - OL and Play calling will help us to evaluate Polk better. It takes a couple of years sometimes Three to know what you have in a WR. I would go out on a limb and say if Maye was Starting we would be saying how good our Receivers are. Wolf being GM of the year is not off the table Whoa yee of so little faith.

I have no problem with wolf. I just criticized him on the O line.. that basically it. Hard to complain 4-13 team with the worst QB room last season.

Wolf isn't a magician. I like his vision and I love the fight the team has in them. Yes I'm all I'm on polk.. none of the WRs are going to be able to thrive as long as we have paper tackle and QB who can't throw outside the numbers.

 

[jdlboot14]

We seem destined to play Maye earlier than the staff planned.
But how he fares depends on 2 simple factors:
1. How well the staff can support him with scheme, play calls, and nurturing coaching to help him grow through the fire.
2. Most important - His own mental toughness to withstand pressure (on & off field) and play within his means.

Age does not matter. Each ones mental makeup is what matters.
Stroud was the same age - 22, playing as a rookie with only 2 real years of college football.
So it CAN work. While not often.
I'm not suggesting we thrust Maye in now, but between game 6-10 wouldn't destroy a young QB. He's not Zach Wilson.

 

[mike_usagisan]

Bubble wrapping the kid for so long is such a waste IMO.

It's been two games.

The professionals who get paid to make football decisions said they think it's better for this rookie QB to sit for a period of time. That could be all season. It could be four games. But their jobs are dependent on getting this right. If Wolf is wrong and Maye doesn't turn out to be a franchise QB, he's likely to NEVER get a shot at being a GM again. If Maye doesn't help win games, Mayo is going to be out there looking for defensive coordinator jobs and maybe have to settle for a positional coach job. There's a lot riding on this turning out right.

Maye is going to be in there soon enough.

 

[PatsFan2]

I have no problem with wolf. I just criticized him on the O line.. that basically it. Hard to complain 4-13 team with the worst QB room last season.

Wolf isn't a magician. I like his vision and I love the fight the team has in them. Yes I'm all I'm on polk.. none of the WRs are going to be able to thrive as long as we have paper tackle and QB who can't throw outside the numbers.

Also Bourne should be back after the 49ers Game one more capable WR in the fold. There is no way a QB who have Bourne - Pop Douglas - Thornton and Polk should be logging 125yds a game that would be on the QB.

 

[PatsFan2]

An interesting outside perspective…




When should Patriots play Maye? Jets reporter shares important context

Sometimes guys figure it out later Sam Darnold might become of those guys.

 

[Ross12]

It's been two games.

The professionals who get paid to make football decisions said they think it's better for this rookie QB to sit for a period of time. That could be all season. It could be four games. But their jobs are dependent on getting this right. If Wolf is wrong and Maye doesn't turn out to be a franchise QB, he's likely to NEVER get a shot at being a GM again. If Maye doesn't help win games, Mayo is going to be out there looking for defensive coordinator jobs and maybe have to settle for a positional coach job. There's a lot riding on this turning out right.

Maye is going to be in there soon enough.

I'm speaking from the standpoint of the argument that Maye needs to sit for a very long time, up to or including the whole season, or "until the line improves" etc. Apologies if my post read as though I was saying 2 weeks has been too long. I was moreso trying to respond to the idea that it's currently still way too soon to play him because some other guys who played in the early weeks of their first years flamed out, so he needs to sit for a long time instead.

 

[Ring 6]

I'm not sure this is correct either. Did you SEE Brady's draft picture? Well of course you have. THAT is the risk you take. But it is a risk. Just look at the Panther situation.

BTW, I'm not advocating that he sits the ENTIRE year. But we aren't even out of September yet. There is a reason that rookie QBs with bad teams USUALLY don't work for the betterment of the player, It's too risky. For all the pluses of actual game experience, you run the risk of developing bad habits. You can fall into bad footwork, not believing what your eyes see, losing confidence, start to see ghosts, etc. Then there is the risk of injury and not being comfortable working in the pocket and knowing when to get out of there

BTW your assertion that Brady would have been better off getting more snaps in games in 2000, is about as about as accurate as mine about the number of years Williams spent in college. I guess I mixed is age and years in college with Pennix, sorry about that.

I’m not sure how being skinny negates the value of gaining experience.

I’m but sure what Bryce Young has to do with Drake Maye.

Why are you more likely to develop bad habits by getting all the reps with the 1s and all the reps in the games than you would by running the scout team? There are immensely more learning oppportunities to correct any bad habits. Every issue you mention is corrected by playing football.
This idea that players are going to get scared in a game and develop in correctable habits that they wouldn’t have developed if they waited half a season is a fallacy.

Finally, funny that your response to being factually wrong is to equate it to my supportable opinion that you disagree with. I guess unless message boards gets fact checkers those tracks will always be there for you. And by the way you were wrong about ALL of them, just more wrong about Williams.

 

[Zuma]

 

[PatsFan2]

Their Teams are both 1-1.

 

[aluminum seats]

Seems like a lot of handwringing and back-and-forth here over a really trivial difference.

Maye will be the starter in a few games, the way they restrict practice and training camp so much in recent years it seems a little foolish to start a guy game one, but in a few weeks he’ll be playing.

Him learning for a few weeks seems smart to me. These few games aren’t gonna cost the Pats a Super Bowl this year.

 

[mike_usagisan]

I'm speaking from the standpoint of the argument that Maye needs to sit for a very long time, up to or including the whole season, or "until the line improves" etc. Apologies if my post read as though I was saying 2 weeks has been too long. I was moreso trying to respond to the idea that it's currently still way too soon to play him because some other guys who played in the early weeks of their first years flamed out, so he needs to sit for a long time instead.

Oh, that makes sense.

I really think the coaching staff could decide he's ready now. or they could decide after four games or they could decide after half the season when it's clear we're out of contention. But really, I just want them making the decision based on when it makes the most sense for his development rather than now because we're having terrible QB play or because we're just good enough to contend for the playoffs with better QB play.

 

[Ross12]

Oh, that makes sense.

I really think the coaching staff could decide he's ready now. or they could decide after four games or they could decide after half the season when it's clear we're out of contention. But really, I just want them making the decision based on when it makes the most sense for his development rather than now because we're having terrible QB play or because we're just good enough to contend for the playoffs with better QB play.

I think it's probably a balance though, right? I'm sure they want to wait until things are perfect with him if they can help it, but they also have to consider other dynamics too. If they wait so long that team morale/culture ends up suffering, that's not really the best position to insert him into either.