Drake Maye on conversations with New England Patriots: ‘They’ve been great’

With the New England Patriots looking to find their next franchise quarterback, North Carolina’s Drake Maye is of interest to the six-time Super Bowl champions.

Maye, one of the best signal-callers in this year’s class along with USC’s Caleb Williams and LSU’s Jayden Daniels, participated in the Tar Heels’ Pro Day on Thursday. Following his 70-throw routine, Maye spoke with reporters and touched on how talks with the Patriots’ brass have gone.

“They’ve been great,” Maye said. “Coach [Jerod] Mayo, first-year head coach, congrats to him. And just in there talking with new offensive coordinator coach Alex Van Pelt and learning their stuff. He’s just been awesome. For such a historic program and team and history up there in New England, so just getting the chance to know them, get to know what they’re about, and their champion mindset of getting back to the glory days has been cool.”

Maye, 21, threw for 7,929 yards, 62 touchdowns and 16 interceptions in his final two seasons at North Carolina. He added 1,147 yards and 16 scores on the ground. Maye racked up numerous accolades in 2022, named the ACC’s Rookie, Offensive and Player of the Year. He earned second-team All-SEC honors in 2023.

Patriots showing interest in Drake Maye?

The Patriots sent a heavy contingent of staffers from their organization to North Carolina’s Pro Day, per Boston.com. New England met with Maye prior to his workout. Standing right behind him and North Carolina’s coaches? Eliot Wolf, New England’s director of scouting. Wolf will reportedly have final say during the draft.

Earlier in the week at the NFL Owners Meetings in Orlando, Mayo, entering his first season at the helm in New England, raved about Maye’s talent.

“He brings a lot of energy. You can tell he has that leadership ability,” Mayo said. “And also the exciting part about a guy like Drake Maye is the ceiling. Like, there is really no ceiling with a guy like that. Now, in saying that when we’re trying to put together this roster, I know a lot of people look at the ceiling, but you also got to kind of see how low is the floor. How low is the floor?”