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Patriots quarterback Drake Maye ended up on the team’s injury report on Wednesday with a “right shoulder” injury, which more or less confirms the speculation that has been out there when it’s come to his health.
The team didn’t practice Wednesday, with the participation details being “estimated” for this bye week.
Maye’s shoulder has been a big topic of conversation since the team advanced on Sunday, with an internet doctor on X spotting various moments on film that led him to believe all was not well with Maye during the game.
He apparently wasn’t the only one. Mike Reiss asked Maye directly about his health coming out of the game during Maye’s postgame press conference. That felt like an unusual question at the time, as it’s not one Maye had really been asked following a game all season, especially from Reiss.
From his postgame press conference:
On how he’d describe how he came out of this game health-wise:
“Yeah, I think some bumps and bruises, but hey, that’s what it takes. And I think a lot of those guys in that locker room are battling through things. And I think at the same time, the best thing about it is we get another chance at it, another chance at it to get healthy in two weeks. And we’re going to some nicer weather, I think, knock on some wood, we’ll see. But a chance to go win the Super Bowl, man. That’s what it is. That’s pretty cool.”
Meanwhile, Vrabel was asked about Maye on Monday on WEEI during his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show, and also during his press conference later that day.
“There’s not a player on our team that’s 100 % healthy,” said Vrabel when asked whether or not Maye was 100% healthy as the team begins getting ready for Seattle. He then followed that up with, “I would imagine we’ll go through the injury report, and whenever we have to turn that in, we’ll turn it in. But nobody’s 100 %. This will be our 21st game.”
“I think that everybody, and including Drake, is not 100% at this part of the year,” said Vrabel later on back at the stadium during his press conference. “And we’ll do everything that we can to help our players be prepared and get ready for this game.”
He was then asked directly whether or not Drake got hurt on Sunday, and Vrabel downplayed it, saying they’d release the status of any player dealing with anything when they were required to.
“I wouldn’t say that anybody hurt anything,” said Vrabel. “Again, this is a sport where there’s going to be things that come up, and I don’t think that there’s a… We’ll talk about whatever status each player has for the game once we’re required to. We understand that, but we were able to function offensively, throw the football, run the football. So that’s where everybody’s at.”
Later that day, Maye’s name appeared on the injury report for this bye week, with the team essentially acknowledging that Maye is, in fact, dealing with something.
NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry reported this week that Maye’s ailment went beyond Sunday in Denver, and it’s apparently been something he’s been dealing with for a while.
“My understanding is that Drake Maye’s right shoulder is not 100%, and it was not even before the Denver game,” said Perry. “That’s my understanding is that he’s been dealing with a right shoulder issue even prior to that Talanoa Hufanga hit that we pointed out in the third quarter of that game in Denver, where he landed hard on his right side.”
“The issue has not been significant enough that it’s limited him in practices or games, which is why we haven’t seen it on the injury report, but it’s not perfect. As Drake Maye mentioned in his radio interview, long season, 30 weeks of throwing, I’m sure there’s some level of wear and tear there. But this is something that he has dealt with prior to the Denver game, and then of course, landing hard on it the way he did, that doesn’t help.”
For now, this likely falls under the situation we saw in the 2001/02 postseason, where then-Patriots QB Tom Brady was knocked out of the AFC Championship game against Pittsburgh with an ankle injury, with Drew Bledsoe stepping in to replace him as the team advanced to the Super Bowl.
Brady’s status for that game was never in doubt, and the same will certainly be true for Maye, who now has two weeks to rest as he’s got his team one game away from potentially leading New England to what could be its 7th Championship in franchise history.
Maye said during his radio appearance on WEEI’s The Afternoon Show that he’s ‘feeling good’ as the teams begins preparations for the Seahawks.
“I’m feeling good. I’m feeling good,” said Maye. “We got some extra rest. Really, the only thing is from the game, I think just the built up of throwing for… This is what, almost, including training camp, 30 weeks straight of throwing and four days a week? It can add up.”
“But got some extra rest, and I’m feeling good and ready to go for the Super Bowl.
In his weekly interviews on WEEI, Vrabel has been extremely candid all season as he’s sat down each week with The Greg Hill Show. The first-year Patriots coach has been honest and up front on various points all season, giving a nice glimpse into a lot of things going on with his football team during this incredible 14-3 season and this current postseason run.
However, that’s apparently become a conversation that he’d prefer to keep off limits to reporters moving forward. Vrabel drew a line this week as he told the media it’s going to be something where he’s no longer going to answer questions about any of his on-air comments.
It started when he was asked about his comments during his press conference about Maye’s shoulder injury on the station, and whether or not he felt it was something that had been blown out of proportion on social media.
“Probably. And here’s what I’m going to start saying about this radio show. This is like the Miranda rights,” said Vrabel. “There’s nothing that I can say on there that can be used against me when I come back in here. So going forward, that’s what we’re going to have to say. Those are free interviews. I’m in there, we’re doing breakfast shots. But I think that everybody, and including Drake, is not 100% at this part of the year. And we’ll do everything that we can to help our players be prepared and get ready for this game.”
As Vrabel has spoken to Greg Hill, former teammate Jermaine Wiggins, Courtney Cox, and Chris Curtis, each interview has been refreshing, and there’s been a good comfort level on the show. Each week there’s been a lot of great insight and glimpses into the team at various points, which has made each week a must-listen, even moreso than the last several years.
With that in mind, it sounds like what happens on there is something that Vrabel would like to keep there, and it won’t be a surprise to hear the “Miranda rights” mention used moving forward, should any topic like this come up again.
During a segment of “Maye or Maye Not,” which Drake Maye does each week on the program, Maye gave his opinion of internet doctors given what unfolded this week. Those opinions ended up falling under the “Maye Not” category. “I’m sure I’m sure they’re real smart and probably have a lot of credit for the work they do,” said Maye. “But like I said, they don’t know exactly and have never seen me in person or a lot of times they’re making an educated guess.” … Vrabel took a moment to thank everyone on the staff from top to bottom this week, opening his press conference by thanking the support staff, including the parking attendants. As they pulled into the stadium, Vrabel was incredibly grateful for the fact that they cleaned off all the coaches’ and players’ cars after the snowstorm that came through over the weekend. “Just look at our parking attendants. We came back and there was a bunch of snow, and we’re worried about starting our cars and getting everything cleaned off, and our cars are cleaned off,” said Vrabel. “I can’t thank those people enough for what they do, our staff, our coaches, to get our players prepared, our training room, just everybody involved with this thing.” … Vrabel was asked where his coaching style and philosophy came from this week, and he attributed it to the fact that he’s both played and coached in various places over the course of his career. “I just try to be me. Sometimes that’s good enough, sometimes it’s not,” said Vrabel. “But just to try to learn from every person, every great coach that I’ve been around, and try to make it my own style.” … Vrabel talked about Will Campbell’s performance this postseason, saying that the rookie had a “better” performance in Denver. “He played better against a really good rusher,” said Vrabel. “We’ll need to keep improving and excited that he has another week to do [so].” … While the season is still continuing for the Patriots, Vrabel acknowledged that there’s still work being done behind the scenes in preparation for the 2026 NFL Draft. He was asked about Matt Evans, his assistant director of college scouting, and Vrabel said both Evans and the rest of the staff have been busy evaluating players. “Yeah, they’re in Mobile [Alabama],” said Vrabel. “Everybody has a job to do. Got to know Matt over the course of last year in our first draft together and appreciate his input and his knowledge and working with our coaches, but appreciate everybody in that staff and that department. So they went to Dallas, and then they go on to Mobile, and they have their responsibility that they have to focus on, which is player evaluation for the draft. So we we’ll need everybody. They’ll have to get us caught up whenever we’re finished.” … Both Khyris Tonga and Milton Williams came into the game to help Drake Maye pick up a crucial first down this week, which was something we hadn’t seen previously. Vrabel was asked about that play and if it’s something we might see again. “We’ll use anything that can help us,” said Vrabel. “We gained just enough. And again, we practice things throughout the year and try to have it ready to go. But yeah, anybody that can help us out there, Tonga, Milt, anybody that we could use. So hopefully, we can continue to pick up some short yardage situations, with how critical that is, especially in the red zone.” … The Patriots are the designated “home” team for this upcoming Super Bowl, giving them their choice of what uniforms to wear against the Seahawks in Santa Clara. It looks like there’s confirmation of what choice they’ve made for next weekend. The club is set to wear white uniforms with white pants, which Reiss confirmed on X on Thursday morning.
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