How Patriots' Drake Maye has impressed two-time Super Bowl champion

New England Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye experienced understandable ups and downs across his first two regular-season starts after he replaced veteran Jacoby Brissett in the lineup. 

During the latest edition of the "Eye on Foxborough" podcast, two-time Super Bowl champion and current media personality Christian Fauria touched upon what has surprised him about Maye's development as a QB1. 

"He had a better understanding of how fronts work, and how coverage works based on how I see him slowly, subtly coming to the line. I see him watching the movement, the safety blitz. I see him checking at the line of scrimmage," Fauria said about Maye, as shared by Karen Guregian of MassLive. "If he can’t understand what they’re trying to do to him, then he’ll never be able to be successful." 

After first-year head coach Jerod Mayo went to Maye for the Week 6 matchup against the Houston Texans, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt noted how the 22-year-old had "made great strides" in knowing "how the protections are schemed and where the holes in those protections are" from spring workouts through fall practices. Thus far, Maye has completed 64.1% of 78 total pass attempts for 541 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions to go along with 68 rushing yards he accumulated on 10 carries. 

Perhaps most encouraging of all regarding New England making Maye the third overall pick of this year's draft is that he hasn't looked overwhelmed. 

"The good thing about Drake," Fauria added, "is that he hasn’t shown you anything where you’re like, 'Crap, that’s not it.' He hasn’t shown that yet. He hasn’t been a reckless young quarterback that runs all over the place, holds the ball in one hand, somebody hits his elbow...and it just looks like a comedy of errors."

With that said, it's a bit worrisome that rumors have already emerged suggesting that Patriots owner Robert Kraft could part ways with Mayo if this season becomes "a complete dumpster fire" for the organization and/or if the coach loses the locker room by Week 18. Such uncertainty could impact any rookie signal-caller, so it will be interesting to see how Maye responds to the chatter beginning with this Sunday's game between the 1-6 Patriots and 2-5 New York Jets at New England's Gillette Stadium.