Mass. — Navy and neon green colors filled the California air as New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, stung by a crushing Super Bowl LX defeat, stared across the sideline in February
The then-23-year-old, riding the high of his team’s improbable Super Bowl run, had come up short in the NFL’s biggest game.
“I think about that picture of him standing in the confetti afterwards, looking like he’s trying to find Sam Darnold, and that has played in my mind — trying to avoid that feeling ever again,” Patriots quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant recalled.
To understand Maye’s approach to the upcoming 2026 season, start where the 2025 season ended. Maye was the runner-up for the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award in his second NFL season after leading the league in Total QBR (77.1) and completion percentage (72%). But the young quarterback struggled in the postseason with turnovers (8) and sacks (21).
“I’ve seen a determined guy who if he gets an opportunity at it again, he would like to right a lot of the things that went wrong for him,” Grant said.
Now, 212 days later, Maye and the Patriots visit the Seahawks to open the 2026 regular season (Wednesday, 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC). The burning question heading into Week 1: Will he be able to replicate the success he had in 2025?
There are some positive signs. Maye will be playing in the same offensive system for the second straight year, something he hasn’t had in the NFL. Coaches and teammates have noticed a growth in Maye as a leader and as a voice in team meetings and on the field. This offseason, he has focused on technique, like mastering the initial seconds after the snap to allePatriots for A.J. Brown, Maye has a true No. 1 receiver
“I think that people always say flush it. I think it’s hard to flush a game like that in our sport,” Maye said of the Super Bowl heartbreak. “At the same time, you learn from it, let it motivate you. You always wonder what it’s like and I got to feel that. We didn’t play our best as a team, especially myself.
“That’s something I can work on to get back, just to try to get to that same spot and be on the right side of it.”
Second year in McDaniels’ offense
Shortly after players arrived for the voluntary offseason program in late April, veteran tight end Hunter Henry was already looking forward to seeing what Maye could do in 2026.
“This [offensive] system demands a lot on the quarterback position,” Henry said. “It was kind of learning as we [went] throughout the whole [2025] season and you saw what he put out there. To have a whole offseason to build on what he did, I’m excited to see the jump.”
Maye, under the tutelage of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Grant, set or tied four Patriots records in 2025. His 72% completion percentage was an all-time best for a New England QB and the sixth-highest mark in league history. He broke the team record for most games with a 100 or better passer rating with 13, which tied for the second most in NFL history. That included eight games in a row with a 100-plus passer rating, tying Tom Brady’s top mark. And Maye’s 91.3% completion percentage in a mid-October win over the Titans was an all-time Patriots high for a game.
But things took a turn in the playoffs when the Patriots faced four of the NFL’s best defenses (Chargers, Texans, Broncos and Seahawks). Maye struggled with turnovers and finished the postseason with a Total QBR of 40.0. Since QBR was introduced in 2006, there have been 61 instances of a quarterback making at least three starts in a single postseason, and Maye’s QBR was the third lowest among that group, ahead of only Peyton Manning in his final season (2015) and Rex Grossman (2006).
Maye described the difference between this season and last season as “night and day,” saying it is the first time in four years he has played in the same system in consecutive seasons.
“Naturally, [I’m] going to be more comfortable. Being in the huddle, saying the playcalls, knowing why we’re running the plays, and trying to take the next level of details inside each play,” he said. “I think one of the biggest things is just seeing plays that we’ve ran against certain defenses over and over again. I think you understand better answers, better places to go with the football, and better timing.”
McDaniels summed it up succinctly.
“There’s less explaining the foundation of what we do, and how we do it, and more trying to get really good at it this year. He knows a hell of a lot more than he did last year,” he said.
Finding his voice
Brown said he wasn’t expecting what unfolded in one of his first Patriots meetings after being acquired in a trade from the Eagles on June 1.
“Josh was speaking and [Drake] kind of cut him off. Not in a rude way, but he just kind of took over,” he said. “That said so much from a young guy — to know what he’s talking about, No. 1, and to lead and be the voice of this team. When I heard that, I was like, ‘Wow.'”
Brown said it was a powerful first impression of Maye and “how much he loves his job and he studies.”
This is one part of the developmental plan that coaches have for Maye, who turned 24 on Aug. 30. They want to see him take more “ownership of the whole operation,”
That has manifested itself in training camp. Unlike in 2025 when Maye would convene with the coaching staff after plays, this year he instead went to teammates to tell them what he liked and didn’t like on a play.
Henry, one of Maye’s closest friends on the team, has noticed the difference.
“Just from last year to this year, he’s stepping up big-time, just the leadership role,” Henry said. “I feel like he’s doing it within himself, though. I’ve been preaching that to him, ‘You don’t have to be anybody else man. Just be you.’ He’s speaking up when he needs to, able to kind of elevate guys and push guys along.”
Maye had always said he felt he needed to do something positive in the NFL before he could turn up the volume like that. But head coach Mike Vrabel has been among those pushing him in that area, where Maye said he has grown more comfortable but still sees room for growth.
“I think I need to do it more — celebrating, be louder, show my personality more,” Maye said.
Grant refers to it as the “human aspect” because Maye is still one of the team’s youngest players.
“You have to take in the realization you’re a [then] 23-year-old kid and in the room with 36-year-old Morgan Moses, who’s been in the league for 13 years. A.J., who’s been to four Pro Bowls and named an All-Pro and Super Bowl champion. If you’re not comfortable with what you’re talking about, it’s very hard to stand up in front of a Josh McDaniels, who’s been to 10 Super Bowls, and try to overtake a meeting,” Grant said.
“The first year, we were kind of growing to that. I think Josh has done a great job with putting a battery in his bag; he charges him up and gives him the floor to say things. In our quarterback meetings, he says, ‘When we go into the team meeting room, if there’s something you see, something you don’t like, say something. Because when you say it, it hits home [in] a different type of way.'”
Addressing postseason weaknesses
Maye has targeted one notable area for improvement — what happens in the immediate aftermath of him taking the snap from his new center, Jared Wilson.
“One thing is just making the right decision in the first few seconds I have the ball in my hand,” Maye said. “Knowing sometimes incompletions are the best plays, not trying to hold the ball too long, and get out of the habit of really trying to extend plays.”
Along those lines, Grant had sent Maye an ESPN article before training camp that detailed, among other things, how Broncos coach Sean Payton and his staff viewed the most effective way to defend him. Part of the scouting report noted some situations Maye has been less effective — against eight defenders in coverage, simulated pressure and by showing a two-high safety look pre-snap and playing with two-high safeties after the snap.
The Broncos’ scouting report is a springboard, in part, to spotlight the work Maye has put in when it comes to the first seconds after the snap, which is when quarterbacks process a complex picture of what the defense is running. Is it similar to what they showed before the snap? Or does the D morph into something different? The answers dictate if Maye needs to get the ball out quickly, or if he has time to execute a potential longer-developing play.
Maye’s 2.97-second time before pass ranked 27th longest of 33 qualified quarterbacks last season.
“There is a design, a timing element to when we can get the ball out quickly, based on the depth of the route and the location of the route,” Vrabel said. “We cannot just throw it the second that we get it every single snap.”
This is where the offensive line — a unit that struggled in Super Bowl LX and was under siege at times in the playoffs as Maye was sacked a record 21 times — provides arguably one of the biggest keys of the season.
The team has made some moves to support Maye up front. Will Campbell returns at left tackle and acknowledged he wasn’t the same player after tearing his MCL on Nov. 23 and returning in January. Six-year veteran Alijah Vera-Tucker was signed to a three-year, $42 million deal to play left guard. Vera-Tucker’s arrival moved Wilson from left guard to center, the latter player’s more natural position. (The Pats traded last season’s starting center, Garrett Bradbury, to the Bears in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick.) And the right side of the line returns intact with 13-year veteran Moses at right tackle and seven-year vet Mike Onwenu at right guard.
Though the playoffs highlighted some issues along the line, the Patriots ranked 13th in pass block win rate (64.5%) and 12th in run block win rate (71.9%) in the regular season. Both numbers were above league average.
“Those guys up front never really get the love that they deserve,” Maye said.
Maye can help them by processing quickly after the snap and making smart decisions based on how the game is unfolding. Vrabel has noted Maye is more comfortable this year and the trickle-down effect it has had on his teammates.
“Once you know your job really, really well, you can help other people do their job,” Vrabel said. “… I think as your knowledge increases, hopefully the details do as well.”
McDaniels also noted Maye’s intelligence and evolution in that area.
“The game makes sense to Drake. That probably comes from his father [Mark] and having a chance to grow up in that kind of a household and have those conversations,” he said. “He’s a quick study. He’s still a young player, but I’d say he’s at an accelerated rate when it comes to his processing.”
The addition of a No. 1 receiver
Maye said he wanted to start training camp with a bang.
On his first pass, he looked to his left and fired in the direction of Brown along the sideline. It was incomplete, but the intention was clear.
The connection between them since Brown’s arrival June 1 has been prominent. Their lockers are next to each other, and on the field, Maye completed more passes to Brown than anyone else in training camp.
“I am not going to shy away from him. That is how I play,” Maye said. “I am going to keep going at it, and it could be the fifth play in a row, I am going to give him the rock.”
Trading a 2028 first-round pick to acquire Brown from the Eagles gave Maye something he didn’t have last season — a physical No. 1 option who is open even when he’s covered. It only took a couple of weeks working with the 6-foot-1, 226-pound Brown in the spring for Maye to say, “You just got to throw it near him, and he’ll make a play.”
Since entering the NFL in 2019, Brown leads the NFL in receptions (88) and yards (1,812) on tight-window catches (less than 1 yard of separation at the arrival of the throw) His 17 touchdowns on those throws are tied for the second most, trailing only Mike Evans (18)
“When you have a guy who you think is going to win a majority of the time, it kind of gives you some ease,” Grant said. “The other thing is that it dictates what the defense does. You get simpler looks because the defense has to decide how they want to cover that guy.”
Maye already displayed a knack for those types of plays in 2025, completing an NFL-best 48% of his passes into tight windows when the league average was 31%. He also had the second-most touchdowns and passing yards on tight-window throws in 2025.
With Brown and fellow newcomer Romeo Doubs upgrading the receiver room, Maye has a shot of replicating those numbers.
“He’s very special. He makes my job a lot easier,” Brown said. “He can place the ball anywhere.”
Now comes an immense challenge to open the 2026 season: doing it in a Super Bowl LX rematch.
“In the last game I played, we lost to them in the biggest game. That’s what you play for. So there’s definitely, I would not say extra, but just a little bit of ‘Man, this is our chance to start the season off strong,'” Maye said.
“You cannot get that game back we lost, so we are on to something new.”
Source: www.espn.com
