Friday Patriots Notebook 5/24: News and Notes
When will Drake Maye Start? And what does the future hold for Bailey Zappe?
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Some Patriots news and notes for this morning:
NFL analyst Phil Simms sat down with his son, Chris in a recent Unbuttoned podcast episode, which had a segment on New England Patriots rookie quarterback, Drake Maye.
Phil said that when it comes to Maye, he believes that after watching his film, it’s his arm strength and his ability to make plays down the field that makes him a great fit for New England’s offense.
“I understand to a degree why they did,” said Simms on the Patriots’ decision to take him at #3 overall. “He’s a big dude, has an unbelievably strong arm, I think, and I’ll just say this: down the field, which you and I have talked about, and I’m sure you’ve said it too – you talk about all these guys with [Mike] Florio here on your podcast, everything like that – but down the field, I think he’s really good. And when I say down the field, I mean down the field, 30, 40, 50 yards or more. Because it just does it the right way.”
“And on the run? Oh my gosh, he made some of the throws on the run, it’s like Patrick Mahomes. It’s 50 yards down the field, he’s sprinting right, and he throws a bomb – for real – high and far, and his guys can run it down.”
However, the only concern in Simms’ mind were some of the short throws, which he believes he’ll need to work on. He also feels that arm strength does matter which, fortunately, isn’t a problem for the rookie.
“But you know, it’s the short throws, the things that bother me. Bill Cowher said this once, and I steal it all the time, of course, is that you’ve got to make all the routine throws,” said Simms. “And then you’ve got to hit some dynamic throws down the field. You’ve got to do that every game. That’s why a strong arm is so important for all the ex-quarterbacks who say ‘arm strength’s overrated.’ Well, you’re wrong.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter appeared on NFL Live earlier this week, with the topic of discussion centering on Maye and the timetable for when he might play in 2024.
Dan Orlovsky believes the club shouldn’t play him at all this season, but feels that if they do, the Patriots shouldn’t put him out there until some point after the bye week, which falls in Week 14.
However, Schefter believes that the moment New England begins to fall out of playoff contention, that’s probably the more likely scenario given where the expectations locally will probably be.
“While we all would agree today that it certainly seems plausible and logical to rest Drake Maye until late in the season, the fact of the matter is, there’s a real chance that the Patriots will go through some struggles at some point early in the season, in the middle of the season,” said Schefter. “And once they go through some struggles and if and when they fall out of the playoff race, we know what all the fans are going to be screaming for. We know what all the conversation is going to be about: ‘When do we get to see Drake Maye?'”
“So this becomes a challenge for every team that drafts a quarterback every year. How long can they be patient? How long can they withstand all the calls for their rookie quarterback? There have been any number of teams through the years who said, ‘We’re not going to play our guy right away,’ only to play their guy sooner than people expect.”
NBC Sports’ Tom Curran appeared on Gresh and Fauria on WEEI earlier this week, talking about the quarterback situation and how things played out during Monday’s OTAs.
One thing he pointed out was the fact that for Bailey Zappe, while he ended up with the second-most reps during the session, it was clear that the level of play of the guys around him was noticeably different.
“You look at Bailey Zappe, and physically, he is head shorter than these guys,” said Curran. “The arm’s strength is palpably different than these guys. He just does not fit the suit the way the other guys do. And I think you definitely, as we saw [Monday], pay respect to the fact that he’s a veteran, the fact that he’s made contributions, the fact that he’s been a good teammate and soldiered on through what was kind of a weak season last year, the last two. And you also want the reps to look good. So give Bailey Zappe the second-most reps so that the other 21 guys on the field are getting something out of it. But that can’t go on for much longer, I would think.”
The next question is obviously whether or not an opportunity might come for him elsewhere, which Curran feels is difficult to say because he’s not sure how the rest of the league views him.
“If you go back to 2022, you’d say, ‘Yeah, oh, wow, look at this kid. He’s really efficient,'” said Curran. “And then you look at 2023, and there were so many throws and decisions and incompletions and interceptions. So you say, ‘I don’t know if he can really… Is he a development guy, or is he a guy who’s content to come in here and be a backup and put his hands at 10 and 2?’ I think here, he certainly has or had aspirations of being the starter right up until draft night. He hoped that the Patriots would not take a quarterback and entrust him and Jacoby Brissett to be the quarterback. That didn’t happen.”
“So what does the rest of the league view Bailey Zappe as? He looks in the mirror and sees a potential starter in the NFL because he has done so. No one could take those away from him, but I just don’t know if the rest of the league is going to look at him the same way.”
Curran also talked about Matthew Judon, who wasn’t on hand for Monday’s session and remains a question mark. Mike Reiss mentioned Sunday that Judon should be due to see his contract addressed, but Curran isn’t sure how the Patriots might approach it. “I’m certain that he would prefer an extension as opposed to merely a bump,” said Curran. “So you have to split hairs on that and say, ‘Well, what are you right now? You’re a player who is explosive when on the field, but toward the end of the season, the last couple of years, your performance has petered off, or you’ve been unavailable.’ And that’s tough to break to a guy when they are as productive as he can be when he’s good.” … Curran notes that while Judon’s play at times has been inconsistent, he’s also been one of the more positive guys both in the locker room and off the field, which he feels the team might also value. “With his platform, he is the most optimistic, outgoing, brand-promoting patriot there is,” said Curran. “What value is there in that? What value is there in that if it goes away? What detriment is there if he says, ‘You know what? I’m going to turn the needle the other way?’ So I think all of that plays into the decision-making, at least factoring it in. You can’t say, ‘Well, we got to pay this guy another three million because he’s awesome on Instagram and Twitter.'” He also added that those actions are a factor because, “the dynamic has to play to an extent with the team because now it’s a component of being a leader,” added Curran. … As fans likely remember, there was some clamoring for former Patriots QB Malik Cunningham last season to see time over Mac Jones and Zappe. After that didn’t happen, and the Ravens ultimately signed him to their roster, there were even some Patriot players who were happy to see him potentially get an opportunity to develop at quarterback behind Lamar Jackson. However, the Ravens have officially moved him to receiver, where he was during the club’s recent OTAs. He reportedly looked impressive, so it will be interesting to see if he makes their roster a few months from now. … Keion White remains an interesting player to watch this season, and Curran noted how much bigger he looked heading into this year. “I mean, he was walking off the field [Monday], and I looked at his quads as he’s just coming out,” said Curran. “I’m like, ‘My God, those are just insanely big. It’s just insanely huge.’ Just a really impressive size and power guy.” White finished his rookie season with 26 tackles including a sack, five QB hits, and 3 tackles for a loss, as well as three passes defended in 2023.
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