NFL analyst insists Drake Maye hasn’t proven he’s ready for Week 1 with Patriots

Although we’re in the middle of the quietest part of the offseason, with less than two weeks until rookies report to Patriots training camp, the debate over who will inevitably be named the team’s starting quarterback for Week 1 continues.

It was clear that New England would use its third overall pick in the 2024 draft to select its next franchise quarterback, but before that, they signed veteran Jacoby Brissett to presumably be the bridge player for the rookie.

That remains the plan, according to Jerod Mayo and Alex Van Pelt, despite calls for Maye to be put on the field for the season opener.

There are certainly pros and cons to sitting out a rookie for most or all of his rookie season, which can be debated until the end of time. But given the questionable offensive lineup for the upcoming season, it might not be a bad idea to keep the rookie on the sidelines for the foreseeable future.

NFL Network analysts debated this last week, with Bridget Condon sharing her belief that benching Maye this year would be the best decision.

Given that we’ve only seen what he looks like during non-competitive OTAs and minicamp, Condon believes the Patriots haven’t seen anything from Maye so far that indicates he’s ready to be the Week 1 starter.

To some extent, she’s absolutely right, and it would seem premature for the Patriots to make Maye a starter so early in his NFL career. There’s a reason they signed Brissett, and they’ll likely stick with that plan unless the rookie outshines them in training camp, which would make the new regime look like idiots for choosing not to make him a starter.

But we can’t predict the future, and we’ll have to wait and see the offense on the practice field at the end of the month and during the preseason to truly assess where Maye is in his development. He’s going to be the starter at some point in the future, whether that’s during his rookie season or not, and the new regime has made it clear that they’re going to prioritize making the right decision for Maye and the team.

The Patriots have already experienced the consequences of starting a quarterback too early or not surrounding him with a strong enough team to allow him to flourish. It’s the Mac Jones experience they’ll want to avoid repeating at all costs.

If that means Maye sits longer than expected, so be it.

More Patriots coverage:

https://www.nfl.com/videos/condon-there-is-nothing-drake-maye-has-shown-so-far-that-indicates-he-is-ready-for-week-1-the-insiders