Friday Patriots Notebook 3/29: News and Notes
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Some news and notes for today:
The big story yesterday afternoon was the performance of Drake Maye, who ended up with a solid showing during North Carolina’s Pro Day on Thursday.
According to Charlotte Observer reporter Mike Kaye, who covered the event in depth, the young Tarheels quarterback started off strong, with the focus looking like he made a point to impress scouts with how he performs when he’s forced to throw off-platform.
That’s an area where there seems to be some question among pundits between he and LSU prospect Jayden Daniels, with Daniels typically having been more of a run threat under pressure compared to Maye.
However, Maye delivered. He started off on what Kaye called eight “go” balls to his receivers off-platform, with the standout from UNC running off 16 straight completions after hitting eight more on the opposite side of the field.
From there, Maye seemingly threw a couple behind his guys and got a little cold before recovering and finishing strong. The only area that appeared to be a struggle was when Maye threw passes to the right sideline, which Kaye wrote was “a bit of an issue” for the future rookie QB.
But, overall, Maye apparently caught fire in red-zone work, hitting every pass but one to his targets, lofting throws to his receivers and finishing hitting more than 60 passes during the workout.
While the Commanders have reportedly been linked to J.J. McCarthy at #2 as of late, it sounds like they came away impressed. 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Cerrone Battle told Michael Felger on NBC Sports Boston last night that both head coach Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury certainly seemed to like what they saw.
“Dan Quinn saw a throw, and shook his head and started walking like he was leaving. He saw enough,” said Battle. “They were impressed and they were telling everybody they were impressed.”
Battle also said that Eliot Wolf also looked interested after Maye’s performance.
“Eliot Wolf, of all people, crept up behind them and was standing right behind the UNC coaches and all those guys, he was the only one that got a little closer,” said Battle. “So if they’re giving hints that they’re out on him, he definitely looked like he was very interested.”
Needless to say, it will be interesting to see if Washington’s interest ultimately sees the Patriots unable to land him, which could certainly affect how they approach things next month.
It sounds like former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick might be releasing his own thoughts on his career in an upcoming book, although whether or not he uses that to respond to how he was portrayed in “The Dynasty” docuseries remains to be seen.
According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, Belichick is planning on writing a book, albeit it’s not exactly clear what the subject might be by the time it reaches readers.
The former head coach is reportedly also in talks about taking part in a broadcasting opportunity this fall, although reports have said he doesn’t have any intention of being part of a regular in-studio appearance.
Many fans weren’t overly thrilled with how Belichick was portrayed in the docuseries, with former players also saying it focused too much on “the negative” and that they spent hours revealing various anecdotes and stories that were either entirely ignored or omitted.
Robert Kraft said this week that he was disappointed in how it turned out, although given that he had seen it prior to when it came out, certainly raised a few eyebrows.
“I felt bad that there was so much emphasis on the controversial and, let’s say, challenging situations over the last 20 years,” said Kraft. “I wish they had focused more on our Super Bowl wins, our 21-game win streak.”
“You know, I felt bad, there were players who gave hours and hours of interviews and they felt only the negativity – people like Devin McCourty and Rodney Harrison, and Matthew [Slater] – although I just heard quietly that they’ve all felt that way. Actually, there were some really prominent people that were interviewed for hours and never were used.”
“So, a little disappointed that there wasn’t more of a real positive approach, especially for Patriots fans who have lived the experience with us.”
Another interesting note is the fact that Tony Pauline reported that the Patriots met with North Carolina receiver Devontez Walker during the University’s Pro Day. Walker is projected to be a late first-round or an early second-round pick. In the event the Patriots landed Maye, it would be interesting to see if they’d then do what both Cincinnati and Miami did and target Maye’s college teammate, creating instant chemistry with their young signal-caller. That would certainly be fun. … According to Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz, Tennessee QB Joe Milton reportedly met with the Patriots before his pro day, with New England doing their due diligence ahead of next month’s draft. One interesting note on Milton was the fact that the university reportedly did something unusual during its Pro Day, taking it outside for Milton’s final two throws to ensure the young QB prospect didn’t hit the ceiling. Crazy stuff. … The Patriots reportedly announced its offseason workout program, with Mark Daniels of MassLive reporting that the first day for players is April 8th, with voluntary minicamp running from April 23-24. The OTA dates are May 20,21, 23, 29, 30,31, along with 3,4,6, and 7. Mandatory Minicamp will run from June 11-13.
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