Patriots' Drake Maye speaks honestly about status after minicamp

New England Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye seems to understand he's still a work in progress even though he impressed during mandatory minicamp practices.

"I think it’s hard to judge," Maye said about where he’s at following minicamp, per Karen Guregian of MassLive. "I think I’ve made some progress. I feel like I have. At the same time, I think I’ve got a lot of work to go. ...I think the closer and closer we get to the season, the more you kind of feel like those bullets are flying."

Maye entered the NFL as the third overall pick of this year's draft but served as New England's QB3 during portions of organized team activities behind veteran Jacoby Brissett and 2022 fourth-round draft pick Bailey Zappe. 

The first-year pro seemingly has leapfrogged Zappe on the depth chart, though, and The Athletic's Jeff Howe wrote on Wednesday that Maye could win the starting job over Brissett by the end of August if the 21-year-old "gets up to speed with the play calls in the huddle, the checks at the line and the field vision to be confident in his reads."

Maye reportedly has already shown vast improvements regarding his much-maligned footwork and his ability to play "in rhythm." He touched upon those aspects of his game and also his understanding of a playbook that could confuse many rookie signal-callers.

"(It’s) getting in the huddle, calling plays, mixing up a bunch of letters, a bunch of numbers and getting that down pat," Maye explained. "I think it’s a good thing to be in command of the huddle."

As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Maye eighth among the betting favorites at +2200 odds to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award for the 2024 campaign. 

It remains unclear if Maye or Brissett will start New England's regular-season opener at the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 8, and first-year head coach Jerod Mayo tried to keep expectations for the rookie as realistic as possible before the Patriots' summer break.

"He’s going the right direction," Mayo said about Maye. "Now, in saying that, we know there are going to be some down days. That’s one thing that I’ve been trying to stress to him is, 'Alright, just keep chipping at the rock, get one percent better every day.' It’s not always going to be great. He’s done a good job with that."

Howe was sure to point out that "the Patriots have a lot of work to do (on offense) to make any substantial leaps from the unit that scored the second-fewest points in the NFL in 2023." 

Whether or not that reality will cause Mayo to protect Maye by sitting the rookie through at least September shall be seen.