It’s been a busy offseason for Drake Maye, who has quietly been working hard behind the scenes ahead of this upcoming 2026 season.
Maye was noticeably bigger last week as he met with reporters, having come off what was a physical season after playing over 20 games in 2025. But one area he talked about was how nice it’s been to head into another year with the offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
The fact that the two are together for another year is certainly a benefit. Maye hasn’t had much continuity over the course of his career, going back to college. North Carolina offensive coordinator Phil Longo left for Wisconsin after Maye’s second season, with the Tarheels then adding Chip Lindsey during Maye’s final collegiate season.
That carousel continued for Maye in the NFL. Having spent his rookie year under Alex Van Pelt, Maye had to start over the next offseason with Josh McDaniels after Mike Vrabel replaced Jerod Mayo as head coach, and the club opted not to retain Van Pelt.
Things didn’t exactly start off smoothly. Last year’s spring practices were a little shaky at times, with Maye admitting there were more wrinkles than he dealt with during his rookie season. The then second-year QB found himself in a system that was clearly more advanced than the one he had played under in 2024.
But with McDaniels guiding Maye, things ultimately settled down. Maye finished 2025 among the top QBs in the league, throwing for 4,394 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also led the offense to the second-highest point total in the NFL last season.
Better yet, it was obvious there was a comfort level between the two. They were 21st in scoring over the first three weeks of 2025, before the offense finally started clicking. They found themselves ranked 4th by Week 8, and ended up winning 10-straight games before coming up short in a 35-31 loss to the Bills in December. Still, they scored over 30 points in 4 of their final 5 games, including breaking the 40-point mark in a 42-10 rout over the Jets in Week 17.
By the time January arrived, they ended up with 14 wins and ended up falling just short of a Lombardi Trophy. Not bad for a duo that now gets to run it back in 2026.
This offseason, the goal has been to take the next step, and Maye already looks like a player who has another terrific year ahead of him. On Tuesday, during Mandatory Minicamp, the third-year quarterback had a solid showing. Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald had Maye completing 17-of-20 passes during the 11-on-11 portion of practice, including a no-look throw at one point to Rhamondre Stevenson.
Mike Vrabel said on Tuesday during his press conference that the goal now with Maye is to really get a feel for what the defense is doing, and for him to get even better at adjusting and getting them into the right play.
“I think that Josh [McDaniels] and Ashton [Grant] have given him some really positive things to work on, some areas of focus, and being able to try to limit mistakes at the line of scrimmage, right? Get us in the best play,” said Vrabel. “And not that we’re going to be perfect, but being able to use every resource that we have to get us into the right play and be able to give us an option to have a positive play. ”
“Whether they’re pressuring or they’re in a look that isn’t advantageous to the play. And we don’t want to be tentative, so there’s a fine line of that. But I think expanding some of that into the second year of the system has been good to see here in the spring.”
Vrabel: Red Zone Remains a Focus
One key area that was a focus on Tuesday was red zone work. Vrabel highlighted that as being an area of frustration last season, and the intensity during the session was evident as Maye and the offense ran plays during that period.
“Just too many negative plays and turnovers,” said Vrabel before practice. “So did a lot of good things offensively, just pretty, pretty average in the red zone.”
Based on the results, it feels like they had a pretty good outing. Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal reported that Maye completed 20-of-23 over two red zone periods with at least three touchdowns, which included a terrific back-shoulder throw to newly acquired wideout A.J. Brown.
Overall in 2025, Maye completed 47-of-72 (65.3%) for 325 yards, along with 20 touchdowns and 3 interceptions in the red zone. He got better as the season went on, including finishing 10-of-12 (83.3%) with 6 TDs and 1 interception over the final four games of the season, including 8-of-8 with 5 TDs and 0 INTs over the final two games.
However, they had some struggles in the postseason, with Maye finishing just 4-of-9 (44.4%) for 29 yards and 2 touchdowns (0 INTs) inside the 20 during the playoffs.
So far, it feels like Maye’s becoming more confident, and while there’s a long way to go before the opener in Seattle, he’s been off to a good start this spring. McDaniels had praise for Maye last week, and he’s been impressed with how far the former North Carolina QB has come since last year.
“This offseason is different than last,” said McDaniels. “Last offseason, we were just getting to know the language and learning how to operate within a system of offensive football, and this year we’re trying to take that and then go to the next phase of that, the next level of that, in his case, which is obviously playing the position of quarterback.”
“So he knows a hell of a lot more than he did last year at this time. He’s trying to either really turn the corner and perfect some things that he has an opportunity to do that with, or we’re trying to learn a few new things and evolve as a player and as an offense. So he’s had a great attitude, super fun to be around every day. He’s a sponge like he was last year. It’s just that it’s a more accelerated version of us both.”
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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.
