Drake Maye Under Fire As Local Media Begins Bizarre Scrutiny of Second-Year QB
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Sports media in this local market is just bizarre.
The 2024 season was a year where interest was at a significant low locally, thanks largely in part to the Patriots’ second straight 4-13 season.
Traffic online dropped off dramatically as the year went on. When the team does poorly, people absolutely lose interest. As someone who relies on that interest in order to keep things going here at this site, the last year certainly hasn’t been awesome, by any means.
Meanwhile, the local media has also taken some hits. Interest on air both on the radio and television began to dwindle, which was clear based on some moves we saw locally the last few months given the departures of both writers and on-air talent.
Team owner Robert Kraft likely also felt it. Despite the “paid attendance” number released by the league each week, by the end of the season, people stopped showing up at Gillette Stadium. It was just an ugly situation. The final game actually saw far more people in the stands from Western New York than were there to support the home team, likely snatching up the $20 tickets on Ticketmaster as Patriots fans opted to stay home and either watch the game on television or skip it altogether.
The latter is also the reason several writers have mentioned played a role in their decision to move on from Jerod Mayo after one season.
On sports radio, they at least had something to stir the pot, with the conversation focusing on Mayo’s miscues, trying to ignite the discussion for a fan base who all seemed to at least be united on his ouster by the end of the season.
Mayo helped out a bit there, with his postgame soundbites often being enough to create fodder heading into the week. His Monday walk-backs became a weekly tradition that fueled a lot of that talk into the Patriot’s next game.
Rinse and repeat. The disappointing on-field performances deteriorated as the year went on. The longer it went, the more Mayo simply showed he was neither ready to handle being the guy in front of the camera and couldn’t quite raise the level of the people he worked with, which trickled down when those same people couldn’t put his players in a successful position on the field.
The drum started beating on Mayo after Week 5. That’s when 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Michael Felger declared that Mayo wasn’t the guy and ‘was in over his head.’
“Mayo’s in over his head, is what it is,” said Felger. “He’s just in way over his head, as most guys at his stage of their career would be. There’s so many problems on this team. And so many problems in that organization, frankly. He’s just not cut out for it, and like I said, very few people would be at this stage in their careers. He’s just set up to fail, but he’s not the guy.”
“I also think [Tony Massarotti], he reacted to some of his players complaining about not getting the ball. First couple of weeks, you’ve got those receivers stomping around out there, kind of pitching a fit. Demario Douglas, of all people, is holding press conferences in the locker room about his lack of touches and whatnot. And Mayo admits, ‘We’ve got to get him the ball,’ and all that. And then the next thing you know, they’re dropping back to pass 33 times in New York trying to get Demario Douglas the ball. Who? Why? No, it starts with the head coach.”
“And I don’t blame Jerod Mayo for Alex Van Pelt. It’s not his hire. Ownership didn’t want to pay for the guy that they wanted. That’s ownership’s fault. But Mayo’s part of the problem. He’s in there somewhere, I am sorry.”
Mayo likely heard that noise, and it certainly felt that whatever plan they had in place, which required patience, seemed to go out the window. Based on the comments of Alex Van Pelt and the contradicting reports when it came to Drake Maye’s development, it felt like they weren’t on the same page. One seemed to want a slow and steady approach, while the other wanted to move things along, likely to stop the bleeding as the pressure started to build.
Meanwhile, the lone bright spot last season was Maye. The former North Carolina standout turned things around significantly on offense after stepping into the line-up in Week 6 against Houston, providing a spark that had been missing over the first five weeks.
Granted, that spark was simply being a little quicker slipping away from defenders and running away from the defense with an offensive line that simply couldn’t protect anybody. That was obvious after we watched Jacoby Brissett get hammered over the first five weeks. Brissett had a tough time putting up points, reaching the 20-point mark just once in his five starts while taking 17 sacks over that span and completing just 58.5% of his passes.
But when Maye stepped in, Fans were relieved to see games that, even with a loss, showed promise and hope for the future. In addition to his athleticism, the rookie’s arm and his decision-making were two key things that stood out and there were finally reasons for optimism. Sports radio had something to talk about other than how terrible the offensive line was, the lack of free agents the club signed, or whatever the latest thing Mayo said in a given week.
By the time it all came to an end, Maye was the key piece the Patriots took into this offseason to give them any glimmer of hope for the future.
Or at least that’s the way it had been when the team walked out of Gillette Stadium two weeks ago.
It’s been a strange week, with Mayo’s dismissal following the Patriots’ final regular season game setting off some interesting comments when it came to the Patriots rookie quarterback.
Maye has said all the right things all year, often being one of the few players holding himself accountable after a loss and never saying anything to place blame elsewhere. The closest he’s come to doing that has seen him say he and a teammate “weren’t on the same page” or it was a “miscommunication,” which Maye would then follow up with, “But I need to do a better job.”
Despite the chaos playing out around him all season, he was supportive of the coaching staff, the offensive line, and everyone in the building. He’s been everything you could ask for in a guy who is the future and leader of this football team.
For a guy who has said and done all the right things, it’s amazing how quickly the landscape shifted following Mayo’s firing. It saw local radio then shift the attention to Maye as they apparently tried to figure out how to garner interest at a time where, other than Mayo finally being gone, there really wasn’t any.
Andy Hart of WEEI kind of kicked things off by calling Maye a “diva” for not speaking to the media following the club’s final game, which obviously included Mayo’s departure less than an hour after it was over.
“I’ve got to tell you, the phoning it in started to kind of annoy me,” said Hart, apparently referring to Maye conducting some of his weekly scheduled interviews over the phone rather than in-studio last season. “The reality is, no disrespect to the other players, but Patriots Monday is built around the quarterback and the head coach. And the head coach is in-studio with them every week, in fact, begging them, asking them, ‘Why aren’t you down here?’ one week when they didn’t go down there. And we’ve got Drake Maye, who, ‘Oh, I don’t like to sit in leather chairs, so I’m not coming this week,’ or ‘It’s a different day this week, I’ve got to pick up my dry cleaning.’ It rubs me the wrong way.”
“And then, today, and I’m retroactively looking at that now through the lens of, ‘Where were you yesterday?’ OK, weird day, you only played one [series], maybe it’s a [Joe] Milton day, and then the news and you’re not ready. Where are you today?”
“David Andrews isn’t even on the F’ing team right now, really,” continued Hart. “He’s on IR. He missed the whole season. That’s what a stand-up guy does. That’s what the guys we’ve seen come through here, the Matthew Slaters, or the Devin McCourtys, do. And you’re the quarterback, and he’s said to us a lot of times, ‘When you’re the quarterback of the New England Patriots, there’s a lot of responsibility. Blah, b lah.’ Where are you? Crickets.”
Anyone who knows how media relations director Stacey James operates, he’s incredibly hands-on and does his best to guide a player through what’s definitely a tough media landscape here locally. For all we know, it was James who advised Maye to sit this one out. Yet, for whatever reason, the conversation continued and went even further off the rails.
“The player always has say,” said Hart, who also – I believe – still works with Fred Kirsch, Paul Perillo, and the rest of that group at Gillette Stadium. He’s been there for a lot of years and certainly knows how things work.
“Now, they might advise him a certain way, but he can say, ‘Appreciate your advice, Stacey [James], but as the quarterback of the New England Patriots the day after my head coach was fired, I feel like I have an obligation to go out there and answer the questions,” said Hart. “Or even if you don’t want a ton of questions, just go out there and say, ‘I really appreciated Jerod for everything he did for me, he gave me a chance, he supported me, whatever.'”
Co-host Christian Arcand then asked Hart if he thought Patriots brass discussed this move with Maye, which obviously didn’t happen. But Hart – who, while a little over the top at times, is an incredibly intelligent guy – came back with a response that was mind-blowing.
“He thinks he’s earned the right to have that conversation and they never had the conversation,” said Hart. “He’s pulling … His hero, is who? Aaron Rodgers. And Aaron Rodgers, remember when they fired his quarterbacks coach or something and didn’t ask him? And he had a hissy fit. Maybe Drake ‘Diva’ Maye is upset they didn’t consult him with this decision.”
The above is pretty shocking. I get being frustrated over Maye’s appearance, especially since Patriots Monday is a big draw and a key part of not only WEEI’s on-air ratings, but also their podcast downloads and video views (the segments are also posted on their YouTube channel), so that’s a significant loss for that week. But it may have been wiser for Hart to keep those thoughts to himself, especially since it could affect Maye’s decision next season to do 100% of the interviews by phone for the foreseeable future.
The tone changed right after. Whether someone jumped in their ear, or they realized they went too far, but both hosts quickly shifted the topic and downplayed things a bit.
“This is why you should talk,” joked Arcand, referring to Maye. “If you leave us to our own imagination, this is what happens, Drake Maye. You’ve gotta talk. You have to speak. You can’t let us do this.”
“We are weeds. We grow in voids,” said Hart. “We are absolutely the weeds of the world, and if you give us that opportunity with a little sunlight and a little water, you’re going to have some bad weeds that are hard to get rid of.”
While that segment happened early last week, there have since been some changes, albeit likely not related to that conversation.
According to Chad Finn, the Afternoon Show received a slight shake-up this week after Arcand was moved to the evening slot, while former Patriots LB and NBC Sports Boston analyst Ted Johnson will be joining Hart on that show. Arcand had done a good job up to that point, but they’re simply up against Felger & Mazz, with 98.5 The Sports Hub having recently dominated again in the last ratings cycle.
After essentially waving the white flag when they moved Adam Jones to the midday time slot with Rich Keefe before the season, likely to try and grab some momentum against Zolak & Bertrand, that move worked out. Jones and Keefe helped WEEI move up to fourth with a 5.8 share. That’s up from the 2.4 share (15th) that show and previous show, Gresh & Fauria, held over the summer.
However, WEEI remains in a tough spot when it comes to the afternoon drive slot. They came in with a 2.5 share (12th), while Felger & Massarotti was again first and captured a 17.6 share. WEEI’s finish is actually a slight step forward from where they were from the summer ratings, which had them with a 1.9 share. That improvement is likely due to their Patriots Monday and segments that include weekly interviews with quarterback Drake Maye, along with ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran.
As mentioned previously, the landscape right now is rough as a whole when it comes to both on-air and online. We’ve seen shake-ups across the board as companies continue shedding talent and people being cut back. Michael Felger this week alluded to the fact he recently had his appearances on NBC Sports Boston reduced as of January 1st, likely for budget reasons at the station.
Locally, it’s obviously a byproduct of the massive drop-off by the Patriots, leading to an overall lack of interest.
That’s why it’s so bizarre that the talk shows are essentially targeting the one person who might be able to resurrect any excitement again in this market.
The talk over the past week has centered around the fact Maye wasn’t around, with sports talk calling him out for not being among the players who were on hand for Mike Vrabel’s first press conference. As it turns out, Maye was away proposing to his long-time girlfriend, which was likely a pre-planned trip he had set up for that milestone.
So the conversation, instead, shifted to a different area. 98.5’s Felger and Massorotti took time on Monday to focus already on whether or not they feel Maye has what it takes to be the next quarterback.
The show’s Jim Murray, who is normally pretty reasonable, made some comments earlier in the week that got things started, but he doubled-down on those takes again on Wednesday.
“I think I’m being painted as some kind of Maye hater, which I’m not,” said Murray. “I am someone who questions Drake Maye. And I have unanswered questions about Drake Maye. That’s all.”
“I’m not going to meat-ride Drake Maye like everyone else right now. ‘Oh he’s the best…’ We don’t know,” he continued. “We don’t know. All we have right now with Drake Maye. is hope. That’s it. And I hope too that he can be the quarterback and franchise quarterback for this team. That’s all.”
Felger, the master of skating the line, smiled as if to say, “You sure you want to go down this road?” He then asked Murray, “Where are people going too far?”
“That he’s already arrived. That this is the guy. Like, you don’t know that,” said Murray. “He’s had opportunities to show you that he’s the real deal. I get the physical talents. That’s evident. My eyes work. But I’ve also seen him fail with the ball in his hands a couple of times in his rookie season with the ability to have the chance to close games, and he didn’t do it. He failed. He turned it over. Whether it was the Rams here, the Bills here, Tennessee down there. And great, he was awesome to tie that game in Tennessee, but then he failed again in overtime when he had the ball in his hands with a chance to close it out. I have yet to see that from Drake Maye. So again, I have questions. I think it’s OK to question Drake Maye.”
Felger then asked, ‘What drives it home?’
“Well, a couple of things,” said Murray. “Jayden Daniels. He’s got how many, five, six, closing, not just in the fourth quarter but like, real crunch time in the fourth quarter? Down, coming back five or six times. That.”
And then Murray went in a completely different direction, essentially destroying any credibility behind the reasonable points he had just made.
“And then the other thing, here’s an inconvenient truth for you, Bailey Zappe, with a defensive coordinator cos-playing as an offensive coordinator in his rookie season, greater than Drake Maye. Fact. Statistical fact. Bailey Zappe did something that Drake Maye didn’t do in his rookie season throw, for 300 yards. Bailey Zappe did something Drake Maye – and pretty much any other quarterback isn’t going to be able to do – elevate Tyquan Thornton to look like a real wide receiver, at least for one game. Some of the same talents here, Kendrick Bourne, Hunter Henry … I like Drake Maye. I like him. I like the attitude. He’s not Mac Jones, he ain’t a b****h like that. I love the physical talents. I’m not trying to say Bailey Zappe’s better than Drake Maye. But he had a better rookie performance than Drake Maye with, again, a guy who wasn’t an offensive coordinator. He was a big fatso pretending to be one.”
“So there’s questions there. That’s all. I just have questions. I think it’s too early to say, ‘He’s the man, he’s arrived, Oh, Maye’s the best.’ You hope. I hope. But we don’t know.”
The point when it comes to Maye’s play down the stretch in a couple of those games is definitely worth wondering about. But Murray is so off base with the Zappe comparison that it’s head-scratching.
The simple answer to that question is just the fact that if you drop Maye into that same group of players, which had a significantly better offensive line and a more talented group of receivers, one of which included Jakobi Meyers, Maye likely would have done far more with that 2022 season than what we saw from either quarterback that year. And it would probably have been by a significant margin and maybe even a postseason appearance.
As it was, Maye approached the 300-yard mark multiple times in 2024, throwing for 276 against Jacksonville, 282 against the Rams, and 261 against Buffalo, all with a pretty rough group of wideouts and an offensive line that had him running for his life for most of the season.
Massarotti defended the point, and at least provided one area that everyone likely hopes to see an improvement on by Maye next season.
“All of the stuff on Maye is projecting,” said Massarotti. “That’s what it is. You see the ability, and you say it’s projections.”
“Look, I like ability too, but I was just looking over his game log to double-check this. There were only three games where he didn’t have a fumble or an interception. One was the finale, which he only played three snaps. One was the Jets, which he got knocked out. Jacksonville. That’s it. The only full game that he played in which he did not fumble the ball or throw a pick, was the Jacksonville game in London. So if you want to look at it that way, he hasn’t done it on this continent.”
“So that’s not a small thing. A turnover a day is not an easy thing to just brush past and throw out the window. That is a significant thing. He’s gotta clean that up. Jameis Winston never cleaned it up. Some guys don’t.”
Murray reiterated that until he sees Maye bring this team back from a deficit and finish it off with a win, he doesn’t yet believe Maye has that ‘it’ factor.
“That’s that ‘it’ thing. You either have it, or you don’t,” said Mruray. “And not to compare him to this guy either… so Sam Darnold, we saw Monday, he woke up, and he knew, ‘I have to work one more three-hour shift to guarantee me $100-million in riches. Maybe with the Vikings, maybe with a new team, but I am going to get my a** paid.’ And instead of doing that, he burned the building down.”
“And so clutch is real. Pressure’s real. Playoffs. Fourth quarter comebacks. It’s all about handling pressure and producing in the biggest moments. Maye had a few of those in his hands, and he failed at them.”
“I like him. I hope he’s going to be good. I hope he can do these things. But he did have, fact, some of these opportunities this year, and he failed.”
Mike Vrabel talked on Monday about galvanizing not only the team but also the fan base heading into 2025. Unfortunately, the only thing that will stop this type of chatter until then will be Vrabel taking this team and bringing it back to prominence, with Maye hopefully taking the next step in his second season.
Otherwise, it’s going to be a rough stretch, especially as each of these outlets – this one included – tries to hang on in a digital age that will likely continue to only get more difficult in the coming years.
At the same time, they have to know that if Maye falters and this team continues to be irrelevant, we’re all in trouble. It’s also why putting Maye – the one other person aside from Vrabel who can turn things around – in their sights over the last week to this degree remains incredibly puzzling.
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The media is dispicable. Trying anything to chase ratings #s and keep jobs… they go into drama-fiction, overreaction spin mode to get eyeballs and page clicks and they blame and criticize in fiction mode. The Patriots team losing is certainly a driver of dis-interest by some fans, but the media coverage doesn’t help. I read a lot of the boston coverage just to see what garbage is being spit out. Like this crap from Hart on Maye being a bit** or diva etc. Doesn’t the media hear Wilfork, Maye and others that know football saying Mayo was not the real… Read more »
Hart at WEEI has lost me as a listener to whatever platforms he speaks on. It surely is when the media can’t get what they want from an athlete they’ll bash them ruthlessly into submission just because they’re the mouthpiece that can do it. It’s all about them, their prestige, and the almighty $$$$.
Hart should not have a job saying things like that. Essentially threaten to paint any picture they want, and that picture will be bad if you phone in an interview when ratings are down (threatening?)….and they will write anything they choose that draws a rating plus be that fact or fiction or somewhere in between. This is similar to what CNN and MS-NBC are going through…. being a political stoogy and spinning rhetoric BS to their audience…. eventually people see through it. I long for the days of Dale Arnold and the old Michael Holly, when sports was sports and… Read more »