Patriots' process screams the lack of a transition plan at quarterback
The New England Patriots knew the offensive infrastructure was bad when they signed Jacoby Brissett to be a bridge quarterback. They knew it when they drafted Drake Maye with the third overall pick in April, when training camp started, and when Maye was better than Brissett during preseason games. They knew it last week too, […]
The New England Patriots knew the offensive infrastructure was bad when they signed Jacoby Brissett to be a bridge quarterback. They knew it when they drafted Drake Maye with the third overall pick in April, when training camp started, and when Maye was better than Brissett during preseason games. They knew it last week too, when the Patriots faced a dismantled version of the Miami Dolphins.
Or at least they should have known.
The decision to finally play Maye makes sense on a broader level, but the timing of the move makes it really hard to understand what the plan really is — if there's any — to make the rookie in the best position to succeed.
Presumably, Drake Maye didn't start since week 1 because head coach Jerod Mayo and his staff wanted to develop and protect the young player. After all, New England didn't have all the resources to put together everything Maye needed around him in one offseason — and the offensive line is the obvious example.
But what has really changed since then? Through five weeks, the Patriots are dead last in pass block win rate. They are also 25th in run block win rate, so there's not really a run game to take some pressure off the quarterback. Was an extra month of practice enough to say that now Maye is ready?
The most logical argument is that the Patriots would face some tough defenses early on. Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers. That's fair enough. Protect Maye through that difficult stretch, and put him on the field in feasible situations for him to succeed, learn, and gain confidence.
But if that was the plan, why didn't he play against the Miami Dolphins last week? The Dolphins are terrible at this point, they are 18th in pass rush win rate, and lost edge rusher Jaelan Phillips — by the way, Bradley Chubb and Cameron Goode are on PUP. Then, two days later, they make a determination that Maye is ready to go against the Houston Texans, fourth in pass rush win rate, a defense well-designed by DeMeco Ryans and with talented edge rushers in Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter.
If the plan was to wait for Drake Maye to be ready, playing him after the bye week late in the season would be more reasonable. If the plan was to protect him against good defenses, this wouldn't be the week to start him. If the plan was to start Maye when he's better than Brissett, the rookie should have started from the get go.
It just seems like the Patriots wanted to create a shield around Drake Maye, but now the product on the field is simply too bad to justify the wait. It sure doesn't look like a really good or really well executed plan. Hopefully for the Patriots, Drake Maye could be so good that he overcomes all that, but it's a questionable series of first steps in this journey.
New England Patriots make change that will define their 2024 season
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