close
close

Bill Belichick weighs in on Drake Maye’s preseason

Posted on by angelo
Bill Belichick weighs in on Drake Maye’s preseason

Patriots

“I think his inexperience really showed in the preseason, like it did a little bit in North Carolina.”

Bill Belichick weighs in on Drake Maye’s preseason

Bill Belichick wasn’t too impressed with what he saw from Drake Maye in his first NFL action last month. AP Photo/Nick Wass

Days after providing his thoughts on the Patriots’ roster decisions heading into the 2024-25 NFL season, Bill Belichick offered a blunt assessment of what he’s seen from Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye in the preseason.

“You like his size and you like his arm. I think his inexperience really showed in the preseason, like it did a little bit in North Carolina,” Belichick said of Maye in a video clip shared by Underdog Fantasy, apparently another teaser for his upcoming show with the daily fantasy site, titled “Coach, with Bill Belichick.” “And I think he needs a lot of experience in terms of reading coverages, overall throwing mechanics and consistency.”

“Is he a big, fast athlete? Yes, but I think it’s going to take more than that to be ready to play quarterback in the National Football League.”

Belichick didn’t seem too impressed with the third overall pick’s preseason offers last month.

Maye, who will be New England’s backup quarterback to start the season, hasn’t exactly had a stellar preseason as a center. The 22-year-old has a 61.8 completion percentage in three games and has scored one touchdown. In three games, Maye has shared QB duties with Jacoby Brissett, Joe Milton III and Kansas City Chiefs backup Bailey Zappe.

The former Patriots head coach then stressed what Maye needs to improve on to potentially succeed Brissett as New England’s starter.

“Quarterbacks at this level are expected to be able to throw check downs to running backs, throw slants to wide receivers, hit a wide open seam,” Belichick said. “And look, we all have plays we’d like to have back. I’m just saying those are some of the things we need to work on.”

“I think Maye probably has more than other quarterbacks, based on what we’ve seen in the preseason. Which is, admittedly, a limited sample size.”

In this clip, Belichick discusses Maye with Michael Lombardi (former Patriots coach Matt Patricia appeared in a previous video). Lombardi began working under Belichick as the Cleveland Browns’ director of player personnel in 1987 and served as an assistant on the Patriots’ coaching staff from 2014 to 2016.

Lombardi gave a more optimistic view of Maye after Belichick weighed in. Lombardi stressed the importance of being patient with the quarterback, appearing to agree with New England’s decision to make him their No. 2 QB to start the season.

“The one thing we learned today is we’re going to have to be patient, right? None of those guys are going to step up. Troy Aikman was 1-15 his first year in the league. Peyton Manning was 1-15, threw a ridiculous number of interceptions,” Lombardi said.

“(Patrick) Mahomes and (Tom) Brady didn’t even play. They didn’t play,” Belichick added.

“And that was probably a good thing,” Lombardi continued. “So I think we have to be patient. Look, they all have the skills to be starting quarterbacks in the league. We just have to lower our expectations and take less time, because too many of these bad plays result in losses.”