Vrabel Reveals Drake Maye's Status For Patriots' Preseason Game

With Thursday night’s preseason opener closing in against the Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel dropped some news on Tuesday when it came to Drake Maye’s game status for this week.

According to Vrabel, Maye will be a spectator Thursday night when the team takes the field for its first exhibition game of 2026.

“I wouldn’t anticipate seeing Drake out there on Thursday. But that’s all subject to change,” said Vrabel ahead of the club’s joint practice Tuesday morning. “That’s kind of where my mindset is right now standing here today. ”

Given that it’s this early in the preseason, sending Maye out there for the opener really isn’t necessary given the team’s larger aspirations for the upcoming season. Despite some occasional bumps and miscues, Maye has looked good for the most part throughout training camp, and he’s steadily been developing chemistry with new free-agent receivers A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs.

Joint sessions like the one the team held Tuesday are typically ones coaches like because they allow both teams to practice in a controlled setting where they can create various game situations for each side to practice against.

For the Patriots, Tuesday’s session proved to be valuable. The team ended up getting quite a bit of red zone and situational work, which certainly worked out well. Maye had several good throws to Brown and Doubs, along with throwing multiple touchdowns. At the same time, he also had some throws he’d likely prefer to have back. They also worked on tempo and other things that are harder to simulate during a game, depending on how various situations unfold.

Having spent the last couple of weeks going against their own defense, Maye said after practice that it was nice to have a different group of players to compete against.

Jul 25, 2026; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) under center at training camp at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images — **(PHOTO: Eric Canha-Imagn Images)**

“Yeah, it’s a great kind of mix-up for us, kind of seeing our defense and our defense does some great stuff, but seeing somebody else and seeing what they do and how they try to exploit our problems and kind of what their deal is on defense, what they like to do on third down or 2-minute when we’re kind of trying to score,” said Maye. “So little things like that, you get to kind of see some overriding themes in defensive football that you can kind of compare to our defense and just football in general. So kind of mix-matching that and seeing what they do. And I think it was great for us to get a new look, and I thought we responded well.”

New England’s offense certainly had some nice moments, with DeMario Douglas and Efton Chism shining during various points on Tuesday, as did Kyle Williams. Tommy DeVito also came up with some big throws of his own, including a bomb to Williams that got the fans fired up on the sidelines.

Overall, it was a productive day, and it allowed them to get a long look in a practice where it certainly felt like they were able to fit a lot in. Vrabel talked about that, adding that having a practice like this provides a good way to evaluate players, with other players – typically guys further down the depth chart – getting a longer look Thursday night.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s really the only reason that we do these joint practices,” said Vrabel. “It’ll be a lot of the frontline players and whoever’s available. Some of the guys that maybe won’t get as much work today will get extensive work in the game on Thursday. That’s just kind of how it goes. So, but let’s see how today goes, and we can always adjust and plan accordingly.”

While Maye won’t see action this week, the odds are pretty good that we might still see him get some snaps next week against the Eagles as that tends to be the “dress rehearsal” for a lot of teams, with the final game being the last gasp for bubble players to earn a role.

For now, anyone heading to Gillette Stadium will just have to be entertained by DeVito and rookie Behren Morton when the club battles against the Colts Thursday night.

“Really, it’s just important that we get the work in and get things accomplished that we’re looking to get accomplished,” said Vrabel. “But that can always change, but I wouldn’t anticipate that happening right now.”

About Ian Logue

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.

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