A minute-by-minute look at Drake Maye’s first public Patriots practice: ‘He has a lot to work on’

FOXBORO, Mass. — Quarterback Drake Maye experienced his soft launch into the New England sports stratosphere this weekend during the New England Patriots rookie camp at Gillette Stadium.

Maye, the No. 3 pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, headlined the 40-man camp roster, which included eight draft picks, nine undrafted free agents and 23 tryout players. With the team’s veterans off for the weekend, the rookies opened camp Friday with a lighter workload for head coach Jerod Mayo and his staff to assess where they were physically and mentally before a more competitive hourlong practice Saturday.

Media watched practice Saturday, marking the first open rookie camp session since early in the Bill Belichick era. It doubled as the first time the media watched practice this spring in the dawn of Mayo’s tenure.

There were about 50 members of the media in attendance, not a bad showing considering the Celtics and Bruins have playoff games this weekend.

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Players wore helmets, jerseys and shorts or sweats, adhering to NFL offseason practice guidelines. Contact wasn’t permitted.

Maye, the Patriots’ second first-round pick in their quest to find an heir to Tom Brady’s throne, was on the field Saturday for 93 minutes. He completed 5-of-6 passes in 7-on-7 work, with the lone miss hitting a turning Jaheim Bell in the hands.

Maye and sixth-rounder Joe Milton III were the only quarterbacks on the field, with Maye predictably leading off every drill.

More than anything, this was an orientation-style weekend that’s designed for rookies to dip their toes in the water of their new lives, gain a quick introduction to the Patriots’ playbook and bond at the facility and team hotel. The goal is to avoid injuries as they build a foundation before they integrate with the veterans during organized team activities.

To put it another way, it was a light workout.

Mayo was pleased with Maye’s commitment to stay at the facility “all night” Friday to catch up to speed.

“He has a lot to work on,” Mayo said. “But I have no doubt he will put in the time.”

Maye explained the late night.

“As a quarterback, you’ve got to know what everybody on the field is doing,” he said. “You’ve got to know all 11. That’s my job. That takes extra time, extra growing up, extra questions.”

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Here’s a minute-by-minute breakdown of Maye’s first practice in front of the New England media.

10:44 a.m.: Maye was among the first few players to walk up the stairs to the practice field. He wore a red non-contact jersey, and his No. 10 was a nice touch after rookies wore non-traditional numbers in the offseason in recent years. Maye trekked across the left field to a vacant spot between the two fields in the back where he loosened his arms. He then went to the right field — on the side of the fieldhouse, parallel to the training camp bleachers — to loosen his legs.

10:49 a.m.: Maye loosened his right arm by throwing with a staffer for four minutes.

10:53 a.m.: Maye strolled to the sideline between the fields, gathered undrafted center Charles Turner and took a handful of snaps under center. Maye then recruited undrafted running back DeShaun Fenwick, took snaps from Turner and handed off to Fenwick.

10:59 a.m. Maye and the rest of the players gathered on the sidelines along the left field for the team stretching lines to signify the start of the 11 a.m. practice.

11:06 a.m.: Red fireworks shot into the sky from a commencement ceremony inside the stadium. A warning would have been appreciated.

11:08 a.m.: The team broke into positional drills. Maye and Milton alternated taking snaps under center with a team staffer on the right field.

11:11 a.m.: Again alternating snaps under center with a staffer, Maye and Milton then threw short passes into a net. They focused on footwork as they simulated free pass rushers and a muddy pocket.

11:15 a.m.: Now joined by tryout center Ryan Johnson, the quarterbacks took snaps with him and simulated play-action techniques.

11:17 a.m.: Johnson took off, and Maye and Milton took shotgun snaps from a staffer before delivering an array of quick passes around the field. Another staffer set up in a single location, from the left and right sidelines to spots around the middle of the field, to simulate where receivers would be for a variety of routes.

11:22 a.m.: Moving closer to midfield, Maye took snaps under center from a staffer and handed off to Fenwick. The pair alternated reps with Milton and tryout running back Terrell Jennings.

11:26 a.m.: For only two or three reps each, spanning about a minute, Maye and Milton took shotgun snaps from a staffer before delivering swing passes to Fenwick and Jennings.

These 19 minutes of snaps, handoffs and quick passes might seem monotonous, but they’re in place to help the quarterbacks fine-tune their footwork. These details are important as quarterbacks transition from the college game where such emphasis on fundamentals isn’t as regimented. Don’t waste steps. Keep the plays on time, especially with handoffs as running backs work to stay in sync with the line’s blocking scheme.

“Under-center stance, I’m trying out two new stances I’m getting used to,” Maye said. “Working on it, repping it, it felt pretty good out here today, so just got to keep working.”

11:27 a.m.: Larger positional groups joined together for the first time. Maye and Milton took shotgun snaps from a staffer before delivering passes to wide receivers and tight ends. The quarterbacks took most snaps in tandem, with one working the left side of the field while the other threw to the right. When a single receiver or tight end remained in the group, Maye took the extra rep. Maye threw 19 passes in seven minutes. None hit the ground.

At one point, Maye slightly underthrew Bell, the Patriots’ seventh-round tight end, on a deeper corner route, but Bell did a nice job of corraling it. While it wasn’t an egregious underthrow, Maye appeared to clasp his helmet with both hands in frustration. Shortly thereafter, Maye and Bell connected on a nice over-the-shoulder fade route that drew a loud cheer from a teammate.

Bell was heavily involved throughout the morning and enjoyed a nice practice.

11:34 a.m.: Back to alternative reps, Maye and Milton threw passes to skill players one at a time. Maye completed all 11 passes in three minutes, which should be the expectation in this type of period. Second-round receiver Ja’Lynn Polk set the tempo for each turn through the rotation. Maye’s first throw of the period was behind Polk, who turned around to make a nice catch.

Fourth-round receiver Javon Baker made a couple of nice plays with Maye. First, he reached to save a sailing throw. Next, Baker utilized nifty footwork to get out of his break on a crossing route. It’s a very small sample, but Baker distinguished himself and was one of the best players of the morning. Later in the workout, Baker showed off his smooth route-running ability while catching another pass from Maye.

Mayo had a refreshing assessment of Baker’s obvious self-confidence after the draft.

“Honestly, like for me, I want these guys to have a personality,” Mayo said. “I want them to feel free to talk about certain things. Look, we’ll have rules of what to talk about. But now, once he puts it out there, he has to show it every day out here on the football field. If not, he’s just a talker, and you start to lose the respect of the locker room. So he said it. He put that out there, and now you have to show us.”

11:37 a.m.: Focusing more on footwork, Maye took a couple of snaps under center, faked a hand-off to Fenwick and threw a designed checkdown.

11:38 a.m.: The full offense gathered together for the first time on the right field, but the defense stayed on the left field. Maye took eight snaps in six minutes. He got the play call from offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, walked into the huddle, relayed the play and then made some brief calls at the line of scrimmage.

Maye took four snaps under center and four in shotgun. He completed three passes and handed off five times. There was one play-action rep. Stressing details, Maye also mimicked passing attempts after hand-offs.

Again, it’s about the small things this weekend — the stuff that should eventually become an afterthought. But this was Maye’s first chance to hear the call, relay it in the huddle and be vocal at the line.

One more interesting note: After practice, Maye said veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett had asked him about his cadence. This might be a small detail, but it’s important for the rest of the offense when the starting quarterback and backup have a similar cadence at the line because it keeps everyone in rhythm with their pre-snap timing. It’s a professional move on Brissett’s part, knowing Maye is going to be starting eventually, if not right away.

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One other interesting note: Tryout tackle Tairiq Stewart committed a false start before Maye’s final rep of the period, but Stewart remained in formation. Belichick used to make players run laps for practice infractions. Maybe Mayo will subscribe to that philosophy in OTAs or training camp, but a lap in this instance would have been counterproductive to the teaching element of the weekend.

11:44 a.m.: Milton took over to finish out the period, so Maye joined senior offensive assistant Ben McAdoo behind the formation.

11:49 a.m.: The defense joined the offense for seven-on-sevens on the right field. Once again, Maye took the play call from Van Pelt, relayed it in the huddle and had his cadence at the line of scrimmage.

Maye’s first pass was behind Bell, who tried to turn around to bail him out, but he couldn’t complete the catch despite getting his hands on the ball. It’s probably unfair to call it a drop.

Maye went 5 of 6 in the period, completing two passes to Baker and one to Polk. Baker made a nice contested grab.

“I threw a couple behind them.,” Maye said. “They still made the catches.”

Including the full positional drills, Maye completed 38-of-39 passes. Again, that included going 33-of-33 without any defenders on the field. Maye will not complete 97.4 percent of his passes in the regular season, or OTAs, or minicamp or training camp. Just passing along these numbers since they’re available in my notebook.

11:53 a.m.: Milton took over, and Maye rejoined McAdoo behind the offense. Since the coaches worked off a script, McAdoo went through the play calls with Maye as Van Pelt was relaying them to Milton about 10 yards away. This is the definition of the clichéd term “mental reps.”

11:55 a.m. Players jogged over to the back hill to close practice. Maye was in the first group, and each group ran eight times — a simple sprint, a left-side shuffle, right-side shuffle, backpedal and repeat.

12:04 p.m.: Mayo broke down the team behind the left field to end practice.

12:07 p.m.: Maye hung back to chat with Mayo, and a few teammates eventually joined them.

12:09 p.m.: Maye walked the length of the left field. (This is the exciting stuff, I know. But you’ve made it this far, so let’s see this thing all the way through.)

12:11 p.m.: Maye met with the media for five minutes.

12:17 p.m.: Maye and Polk left the field and walked down the staircase together. They were scheduled to get in a lifting session and conduct meetings after practice. Maye estimated staying at the facility until sometime between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. before hanging out with teammates at the hotel.

“That’s the best thing about minicamp, getting around the guys for the first time,” Maye said. “At the hotel together, right across (from each other in) the rooms, watching film and looking at the next day’s script together. Got a lot of time. We’ve got nothing else to do here, so why not do football?”

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(Photo of Maye: Eric Canha / USA Today)



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