It’s officially Drake Maye time in New England!
Ian Rapoport is reporting that the Patriots will officially be making the change at quarterback from Jacoby Brissett to third-overall pick Drake Maye. Currently, the Pats are just 1-4 and have dropped four in a row after their Week 1 win over Cincinnati. So far this season, New England has scored 13 or fewer points in four of their five games.
Patriots Moving On To Drake Maye
I will say, it’s a bit of an interesting spot for the Patriots to make the switch to Maye. Not that the rookie out of North Carolina won’t be good, but the matchup just feels like one in which he’s being set up to fail.
The Pats will host the Houston Texans on Sunday, who as Bears fans saw in Week 2, have one dangerous pass rush and can create havoc on young quarterbacks. Houston sacked Caleb Williams seven times in that matchup. And honestly, it felt like a lot more than that with all the hits they laid on him.
On top of that, New England’s offensive line has been a disaster so far through five games. This game has the potential to look as bad or worse up front for the Patriots as it did for the Bears in that Sunday Night Football game.
So why make the move now? Especially when the following week the Pats take on the Jaguars in London in a much more friendly matchup to try and ease Maye into? Was the locker room really in that bad of shape that you couldn’t have saved Maye from this really difficult first matchup?
Truly, this move feels a lot like when Matt Nagy gave Justin Fields his first start in Cleveland. He threw his rookie QB out there behind a terrible offensive line and against a great pass rush. That game was a disaster for Fields and the Bears. Will the same thing happen to Maye on Sunday?
Either way, it’s Maye’s Day in New England now. As mentioned above, the Bears do take on the Patriots in Week 10, so it looks like we’ll be seeing Drake Maye vs Caleb Williams in that one.
