Ben Volin of the Boston Globe raised eyebrows when he mentioned that sixth-round draft pick Joe Milton III was outperforming Drake Maye, the No. 3 choice of this year’s draft, in the early days of training camp.
Longtime Boston sports reporter Michael Holley expanded on Maye’s summer struggles during a recent NBC Sports Boston appearance.
“I watched Drake Maye in college,” Holley explained, as shared by Sean Savage of the New York Post. “I loved him in college. You guys know that. He was a tremendous college player. At times in North Carolina, people compared him to Justin Herbert, I said, ‘I can see that.’ People compared him to Josh Allen. I can see that at North Carolina. Today, in Foxborough, you know who I saw? The ghost of Mac Jones. I saw the ghost of Mac Jones.”
Jones earned a Pro Bowl nod as a rookie after New England made him the 15th overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft but then badly regressed across the next two seasons amid rumors regarding his relationship with former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. Belichick pulled Jones from games four different times during the 2023 season, and the 25-year-old spent the final six contests of the campaign on the bench before he was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars this past March.
“He was terrible,” Holley added about what he saw from Maye. “He was terrible in every sense of the word. He couldn’t get anything right.”
In fairness to Maye, it was no secret ahead of the draft he was entering the NFL as a work in progress who would need to improve multiple aspects of his game before he was ready to face a live defense in a meaningful matchup. It was made clear recently that the Patriots would feel fine about veteran Jacoby Brissett starting over Maye for most or even all of the upcoming season.
As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Brissett as a massive -900 betting favorite to start over Maye (+550) for New England’s regular-season opener at the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 8. Maye’s chances of serving as New England’s QB1 versus Cincinnati may essentially disappear if he looks completely lost when the Patriots begin the preseason with a home game against the Carolina Panthers next Thursday night.
