Coming into Thursday's preseason opener, all eyes were set to be on Drake Maye. After all, the New England Patriots used the No. 3 overall pick on the UNC quarterback, who is promised to be the catalyst to help the organization leap back into contention in the years to come. While you may have tuned in to try to get a glimpse of Maye, a glimpse is all you got.
The rookie played just a single series in the first half after Jacoby Brissett got the start (and a single series himself). Instead of Maye getting multiple reps throughout the night, the majority of the action was left to veteran Bailey Zappe and rookie Joe Milton III.
"That was always the plan," first-year head coach Jerod Mayo said postgame of how New England deployed May and the rest of the quarterbacks. "The plan was to get him in there for one series, to get Jacoby in there for one series, and then really turn it into the Zappe show and then the Joe show. That was the plan going in."
In that lone series, Maye completed two of his three passes for 19 yards. Both completions were on screens.
.@DrakeMaye2 to Gibson to move the chains ⛓️
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) August 8, 2024
📺: @wbzsports pic.twitter.com/FvfkqDAJNi
So far in camp, it's been evident that Brissett is earmarked to be the team's Week 1 starter, which makes Maye's lack of in-game reps that much more puzzling. Mayo was specifically asked if he felt it was important for him to get into a game setting to work on operations within the huddle and game management.
"Those things are always under consideration," Mayo said during his Friday morning press conference. "I would also say during practice, he gets a lot of reps. Then going into the Eagles week, this honestly is a huge week for everyone to practice against the Eagles, and then really we'll see how the reps kind of break down in the game. But I expect Drake to get more reps than he did in the first game against the Eagles."
On top of their exhibition next Thursday, the Patriots are slated to hold a joint practice with Philadelphia on Tuesday, which should give Maye some more competitive reps as well.
