Drake Maye might have a lot of pressure on him with the New England Patriots, considering the Tom Brady factor.
Brady is considered the best quarterback of all-time, winning six of his seven Super Bowls with the Patriots. Maye, the new franchise quarterback, is the headliner in a new era of the franchise under head coach Jerod Mayo.
But Maye is going to be himself, not Brady.
“Tom Brady’s the G.O.A.T.,” Maye said in his post-draft news conference. “It’s easy to say that. He’s the best that ever played this game. I’m not going to be Tom Brady. So, I’m just going to try to be Drake Maye, and from there, I’m just trying to learn from him, hopefully get to know him a little bit. Other than that, just try to soak it up, be a sponge and try to learn all I can from him. He’s the man of that town.”
Brady consistently elevated talent around him. Of course, he eventually had some elite pass catchers around him too, such as guys like Randy Moss and Rob Gronkowski.
For Maye, as a rookie at least, there could be some growing pains. The Patriots were in that position of drafting No. 3 overall for a reason.
New England selected Washington wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk on Day 2 to add a solid weapon. But the onus always comes back to Maye.
“I think that’s a huge part of being a quarterback,” Maye said. “You’re the face of the team. They look to you, and my responsibility is to get to know the guys personally. I think that’s the biggest thing: genuine relationships. That’s kind of what I feed off of. I get to know the guys truly because you may not be able to handle different guys the same way.
“I think going in there as a top-three pick rookie, I think you kind of — just stay humble. Worry about my play on the field, winning games and that’s what I’m playing the game for. I love football, and I love winning. I think the biggest thing is that I hate losing. I hate losing in anything I do; it doesn’t matter what it is.”
Despite lacking sufficient talent around him in the 2023 campaign, Maye tallied 3,608 passing yards, 24 passing touchdowns and another nine scores in the ground game. His 63 completions on throws at least 15 yards downfield ranked second in the FBS.
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