Patriots quarterback Drake Maye loves a little competition.
The third-year quarterback appears to be having one of his best camps of his career so far, and he credits a lot of the success he’s had with having to go up against some pretty good defensive players on his own football team.
Following an offseason where the team added a high-caliber player like A.J. Brown, Maye now has some added firepower to battle against someone like Christian Gonzalez, which has been one of the highlights so far of training camp.
In Maye’s case, Gonzalez has quietly developed into one of the best coverage corners in the league. As Maye continues establishing himself, the one thing he’s going to have to do against good football teams is likely target players against other top defensive backs.
That’s where Maye says practicing against someone like Gonzalez helps make him a better player.
“I love going at good players, and I think he wants that,” said Maye of Gonzalez last week. “He practices hard, and we’re always making jokes back and forth at each other. And I remember back in OTAs last year, I think he picked me off 2 or 3 times. So since then, back in my scout team days, my rookie year, I threw him a bunch of them. So that’s fun to go against a guy like him, and especially when you got guys that I feel like can give him some good work.”
“And I always feel like a player like Gonzo in practice you feel like, ‘He’s backside all, don’t look over there.’ I’m the type that wants to go over there and challenge him. So he knows that, and obviously he’s a great player in this league, and I love having him on my team and being able to practice against him.”
Practice Battles: “I think it builds great players”
Drake Maye emphasized that the daily grind of practice, especially the one-on-one matchups, is where true growth happens. While speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Maye specifically pointed to the fierce competition between Gonzalez and Brown as an example of the intensity that benefits the entire team. He views those as “game-like scenarios,” which he feels are crucial for everyone when it comes to reaching the next level.
“I’d say just that level of intensity. I think that’s game-like,” said Maye on Wednesday. “I think it’s game-like. I think it’s playoff-like. I think it builds great players. And I think you like to see it.”
“You like to see a little trash talk. And I think Gonzo and AJ are two of the best at their position, and I respect them for going at each other and not trying to, ‘Hey, just pitty-pat and take it easy on each other,’ going at each other and making each other better. So, I respect that from them, being two great players in this league, and respect how they’re approaching it.”
For Maye, that’s one of the things he looks forward to. He’s a competitive player who has continued becoming more confident, with Mike Vrabel spending much of last season and again this offseason pushing him to become more vocal.
Maye admitted on Wednesday that he does his own fair share of trash talking, with the quarterback saying that he and linebacker Robert Spillane jaw back and forth in practice, with Christian Barmore being another player who gets fired up.
“Me and Spill [Robert Spillane] just love talking football,” said Maye. “I really respect Spillane’s knowledge for the game. And, um, I think he loves talking, and he loves 7-on-7 and trying to pick me off. And I think he’s a great player in this league, and I think he just shows up, man. And he had a few interceptions last year.
“I’ll hear [Christian] Barmore inside a little bit. Barmore will get riled up. I like hearing Barmore talk. But really, I think all our guys got a little stuff to them. I think that’s what you need in defense. You like having hearing those guys, and I try to be nice to them, but at the same time, you got a little talk back, because they respect it.”
Maye: “Chemistry is Ongoing”
After his 2025 performance, Maye has garnered the respect of his teammates after having put up some unbelievable outings during last year’s 14-3 regular season. While their playoff run came up short, it was easy to forget that Maye was just a second-year player, but his teammates know they have someone special under center.
This year, the opportunity to take a step forward is there. With Brown and newcomer Romeo Doubs, the club added two explosive players to a New England Patriots offense that finished second in the NFL during the 2025 regular season in scoring.
The two veteran receivers are still getting acclimated to the offense, and both have only recently started finding a rhythm with Maye.
As a result, it’s clear that there’s still a long way to go. Maye admitted that he’s still building chemistry with this current group, and he feels like their best is yet to come.
“I think chemistry is ongoing. I think there’s different levels to I think there’s times where you try to build it, and there’s times where you try to, maybe, feel like you can, even reach that next level,” said Maye. “I think there’s always ways to improve with players.”
“I think guys that are playing for so long and, whoever it was, [Tom] Brady and Gronk [Rob Gronkowski], I bet if you asked them, they’d still say in year 7 and 8, they’re still building ways for their game. And I think there’s times where you feel like you’re at a stage with a player for 2 or 3 years with Hunter [Henry].”
“There’s still times where me and Hunter, it’s our 3rd year playing together, we can still elevate our games and kind of, different looks of so many different routes and so many different plays and looks where you can feel like, ‘Hey, I understand what he’s doing, what he’s thinking, and we’re trying to react the same way.’”
For now, the competition continues, and it won’t be long until the competition for Maye shifts to a new defensive unit. The Patriots are set to hold a joint practice next week ahead of their first preseason game against Indianapolis.
“We were just talking in the locker room,” said Maye. “Yeah, you kind of want to face somebody else. But at the same time, you’ve got to not shy away from trying to get better against our defense, which is a great defense.”
“So, we’re looking forward to getting some more practice against us, and then obviously got Indianapolis coming in. So looking forward to getting somebody else to hit.”
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Interesting that Maye was quoted saying Doubs had not been in an offense that required the WRs to make decisions. I assume that is option route related(?). That response from Maye was in regards to Doubs taking some time early on in camp to adjust. I saw a Doubs interview where the media questions pitched to Doubs were sort of in that space (learning the offense). Also interesting to hear (Lazar I think), that Pop D also had stuggled last year learning McD’s offense. The comments were that PoP D had really learning the offense better in off-season and so… Read more »