Here’s what Eliot Wolf (EW) and Jerod Mayo (JM) had to say following the selection of Drake Maye by the New England Patriots Thursday night:
On Drake Maye:
EW: “He’s big, he’s young, and we feel like there’s a lot of upside to his game.”
On when they feel like they reached a consensus:
EW: “Throughout the process. I mean, we had a good process with all these quarterbacks, and all these players in the draft and we really started to feel comfortable with Drake…obviously the game film was really good, but we started to feel comfortable with him as we spent more time with him and visited with him at North Carolina.”
On what they learned about different traits :
EW: “Really just getting a chance to know him. See what he’s about. See what his family is about. Getting him on the board and seeing his high football intellect.”
On the trade offers:
EW: “We had some conversations with other teams, but ultimately we felt like Drake was the player that we wanted and we had the opportunity to get him.”
On when the trade offers started:
EW: “A really long time ago. The trade offers, I won’t say they were constant, but there were different points throughout the process where there were trades. But all along we knew we were in a unique opportunity to get a quarterback that we liked, and we were obviously able to do that.”
On if they had to be convinced not to take Drake Maye:
JM: “We had time to think through the process. We went through various scenarios with the coaches and scouts, even going back to the collaborative approach that we did this time and I would say the organization was happy with Drake at #3.”
On the trip to North Carolina and what he learned from it:
JM: “First and foremost, I would say just getting a chance to spend time with Mack Brown and asking him questions about Drake really helped me get the full picture. Look, this guy’s very competitive. He would literally miss one question and he’d be on himself about it. But we like that competitive nature, that striving for perfection, and he showed us that.”
On if Maye is a QB they feel can start right away:
JM: “To go back to Bill, I don’t think many rookies are ready to just jump in and play. Look, at the end of the day, our philosophy is, the best players will play. Coming in as rookie, hopefully, he’s a sponge. A lot of good players in that locker room. Look, Jacoby, he understands. He’s a mentor, he’s very smart, has great leadership skills, and hopefully Drake can learn something from him as well. But I would say, we’re going to compete all spring, we’re going to compete, during training and the best player will start.”
On the fact they said he elevates his teammates and how it stood out during adversity:
EW: “I mean, not to take anything away from anyone else in the program, but the game was on his shoulders for them. They have some talented players, talented running backs, and receivers, but he really was able to elevate them and make them into what they could be.”
On how they worked through the bad tape, looking at his issues, footwork, etc.
EW: “That’s a good question. Meeting with Coach Van Pelt, Coach McAdoo, Coach McCartney, and just kind of talking through some of the development he needed, some of the things that they thought they could tighten up or fix in some cases. At the end of the day, we felt comfortable with those things and really betting on the talent and the kid. Drake’s a relentless worker from all the indications that we have, and he’s going to be able to overcome some of the things in the areas that he needs to improve.”
On what they think they need to improve on the roster to support him:
EW: “I just think we need to support him any way we can. On the field, off the field. We need to add some weapons to the offense. We need to shore up the offensive line. We have good players already at those positions, but really just increasing the depth and the competition. Like Jerod mentioned, that competition is going to be at every position.”
On how he characterizes ownership’s support:
EW: “They’ve been very supportive throughout. It helps that Jerod and I have been on the same page for almost everything so far which, I know won’t continue, but hopefully it continues until we have some adversity here and then through that. But they’ve been very supportive.”
JM: “I’ll win that fight, if it’s physical [laughs].”
On when they knew Drake was their guy outside of the trade:
EW: “I don’t know if there was one moment. Do you have a …? [motions to Mayo]”
JM: “Honestly, the more exposure we had with Drake, the more comfortable we felt. Honestly, not to talk about other players, but those top three guys, we were comfortable with all three of those guys and it just happened to be Drake. He has a lot of potential and we have a lot of coaches and we have to develop him.”
On this market and what gave them the sense that they felt he could handle the situation here in New England:
EW: “He was one of the only quarterbacks in this draft that went up there after every loss and handled the media. Not that the Chapel Hill media is as tough as you guys are, but he handled it with grace, with class. Watching those press conferences, there were a lot of times where the reporters were trying to get him to throw somebody under the bus and he wouldn’t do it. He’s a 21-year old kid but he’s very mature and understands what it means to be a leader.”
On what the biggest surprise was for them leading up to this draft:
EW: “Really, just all the scrutiny. I think with so many quarterbacks being so high in the draft, there was a lot – for a lack of a better word – BS out there about this guy or that guy, and a lot of rumors and inuendos and things that just didn’t end up being true. But we stayed the course, we were on the same page, and it was a really good process for us.”
On the fact Mayo said Maye had a high ceiling and what it could mean if he reaches it:
JM: “It means a lot. But look, let me go back a couple of questions ago. We’re not sitting here saying that Drake is our starting quarterback. I think he understands that. He understands the things that he has to get better at, and with coaching and once again, the hard work, and the coaches that we have, the support system from ownership. I think he has a chance to go out there and really play at a high level. You can talk about potential all you want to, until you reach it, it really doesn’t matter. But we do know the man. We know the man is a hard worker, and he’s going to do everything he can to be successful.”
On the fact he said at the combine he was impressed and what impressed him:
JM: “Just his composure. I would also say, a lot of teams they put all the good plays of players. Eliot and his group, they put a tape together that had a lot of bad plays, and honestly, he took a lot of that blame on himself, even when sometimes it wasn’t his fault. But a very accountable man and can’t wait to work with him.”
On if they had any hesitancy in picking him:
EW: “No.”
JM: “No.”
On the fact he talked about his floor at the league meetings and how much of that floor scared them:
JM: “I wouldn’t say it scared us. Everyone was focusing on the ceiling, and obviously, Drake has a high ceiling. But the floor is, like, if everything goes wrong, which we don’t anticipate to happen, what does that look like? We’re very comfortable as we continued to go the process, we watched years of this guy playing football and we feel good about the pick.”
On if they would have been comfortable taking Jayden Daniels if Washington had taken Maye at #2:
EW: “That wasn’t really something that kind of came up. We knew a long time ago that Washington was going with Daniels so we were able to make our pick, and we’re really happy about that.
How long ago?
EW: “Weeks.”
On if they don’t trade up, if they don’t pick again tonight, their thoughts about having a piece on offense:
EW: “We have seven more picks, and we’ll probably move around a little bit, hopefully acquire some more picks, but we feel strongly about the board and we’ll kind of see how it goes here. There’s a lot of good players that are going to come off the board before our next one, so we’ll just kind of see how it goes here.”
On him looking up at the TV:
EW: “Just trying to see who’s going where.”
On if they’d like to acquire more picks:
EW: “Ideally, yes.”
On taking time to develop the quarterback and when they think they’ll have an idea of when he’ll be ready to play:
JM: “I think you just answered the question. You try to put timetables on it, but you just never know when that time’s going to be. If you look over the history of the league, sometimes guys, they can go in there and start game one and have a Pro Bowl season, then other guys, they sit for two or three years, and they have a great season or a great career but it can also go the other way, right? You sit for two years and have a terrible career. I think it’s hard to really put a timeline on when he will be ready. And, once again, look, I don’t want you guys to forget about the other quarterbacks that we have on our roster, and it’s about competing and it’s about going out there every day striving to get better.”
On this being a different feel to the draft room and what it was like being able to make the pick:
EW: “Just for me, it was a lot of excitement. Been waiting a long time for the moment to be able to sit here with someone like Jerod and just kind of collaborate and try to do what’s right for the organization. But there was a lot of excitement in the draft room from the scouts and the coaches and just kind of the new direction that we’re taking the team.”
On his message to Patriots Nation:
JW: “Look, we still have holes that we need to fill. We still have a lot of draft capital. What I will say is what’s most important is the guys coming out here and working each and every day. I know a lot of people are writing us off, but we’ll see when it comes to the fall.”
On if his father [Ron Wolf] offered any words of advice:
EW: “Not before the pick. I mean, I talked to him a couple of times today and it was really just trust your instinct and try to do what’s right for the Patriots.”
On the fact they said they knew Washington was taking Daniels, and if they knew they were taking Maye after that:
EW: “Yeah, it was pretty obvious at that point, yeah.”
On Robert Kraft’s reaction when he let ownership know:
EW: “I would say this morning. We’ve talked a bunch of times about the different things that could happen, and this morning, he’s excited. He got the opportunity to talk to Drake when we picked him and they had a nice conversation. Yeah, I think he’s excited as well.”
On how they see him in their scheme:
JM: “A guy like Drake, look he has all the natural ability that you want. He can make all the throws. Really, it’s about getting into the playbook. It’s going to be a different scheme. One thing about our playbook offensively, we’re going to be a game plan offense and we’re going to tailor our offensive game plan to whoever the quarterback is. We’ll see how that pans out, but excited to get him out there with the guys and the coaches.”
On if there’s one thing on tape that wowed them about Drake:
JM: “One thing about Drake that we kind of talked about it this past year, they also had some holes on offense. The thing that most impressed me about him, he would get smacked and just get right back up. Right? That’s the same trait – you had a guy like Tom Brady – not saying that he’s Tom, but just that mentality. Same thing with Joe Burrow. Like, those guys just keep getting back up and continuing playing at a high level and that was like the ‘Ah Ha’ moment for me.”
On if he’s preparing the defense to chirp at him:
JM: “We chirp all the time. We chirp all the time. But it does get competitive, and right now we have the spring to kind of get some things done. We’ll have a couple extra weeks with the rookies. We’ll see how the rest of the draft class plays out. But this is a big one for us and I’m very happy. I’m very excited to be in this position.”
[Inaudible] (On the process?)
EW: “We’re all working together. It’s not just Jerod and I. Obviously, Matt Groh, Alonzo Highsmith in my department, and a bunch of other people that are working their tails off, Richard Miller, Brian Smith, Steve Cargile, so we’re all working together and we’re all excited about the opportunity that’s been presented us.”
On if he’s going to sleep tonight:
EW: “Absolutely.”
Did you sleep last night?
EW: “Yes. Pretty well, actually.”
(Editor’s Note: This transcript is done via the available footage and is subject to typos. If you spot something, please take a moment to let me know in the comments below.)
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
