The Patriots did their part in driving up ratings for the 2024 NFL Draft by not letting their intentions to select North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye third overall be known before the start of the event.
But the Patriots’ front office, headed by director of scouting Eliot Wolf, had long since decided that Maye would be their guy in the first round, barring a trade offer that would blow their socks off and be impossible to turn down.
The Patriots felt they held the third pick in a three-quarterback draft. They knew Caleb Williams was going No. 1 overall, and they rightly assumed the Commanders would be selecting Jayden Daniels.
A convincing offer was never made, and in the days preceding the first round of the draft, sources had told the Herald that they couldn’t envision a trade coming together by the time it was their time to pick. The Patriots had so much confidence that such an offer — “a bag,” as head coach Jerod Mayo once called it — wasn’t coming at the last minute that they called Maye, who was on-site at the draft in Detroit, as soon as they were on the clock.
So, when did Maye first hit the Patriots’ radar? And what made Wolf, Mayo and Co. so comfortable in taking Maye to be their future franchise quarterback?
The North Carolina native and four-star recruit immediately vaulted up future draft rankings as UNC’s starting quarterback in 2022, leading the Tar Heels to the ACC Championship Game and earning ACC Player of the Year honors, completing 66.2% of his passes for 4,321 yards with 38 touchdowns, seven interceptions and seven more rushing scores.
But scouts and executives first got an on-field look at him at UNC’s Pro Day, when he was throwing to Colts 2023 third-round pick Josh Downs.
“The ball never hit the ground,” a source, who compared it to C.J. Stroud’s performance throwing to Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave at Ohio State’s pro day in 2022, recalled.
The Patriots never stopped scouting quarterbacks, even after selecting Mac Jones with the 15th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. They met with eventual Colts first-round pick Anthony Richardson at the 2023 combine but ultimately decided against trading up for a quarterback, instead choosing to trade down to select Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez, a home-run pick who excelled before suffering a season-ending injury early in the year.
But after a second straight year of lackluster play from Jones that eventually led to his trade to the Jaguars, the Patriots knew they were in business for a quarterback in the 2024 draft.
Sources at the combine indicated the Patriots would be comfortable selecting any of the top three quarterbacks — Maye, USC’s Williams or LSU’s Daniels — in the draft, and Mayo reiterated that after the first round. They never strayed.
“Those top three guys, we were comfortable with all three of those guys, and it just happened to be Drake,” Mayo said.
The team met with Maye, Williams and Daniels, plus Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy and Oregon’s Bo Nix, at the combine, and their interest in Maye was only piqued, even after his production and efficiency dropped off in 2023, when he completed 63.3% of his passes for 3,608 yards with 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions with nine rushing scores.
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A Patriots source explained away the decline by citing the new offense, scheme, offensive line and receivers that Maye was working with.
"Everything was new, and there will be growing pains," the source said. "I think it’s as easy as that. I don’t think it was him. I think he was trying to do everything the way he was being coached to do it, because he’s that kind of guy."
The Patriots went on to meet with Maye at his Pro Day in March and again on a pre-draft visit at Gillette Stadium.
Every time the Patriots met with their future quarterback, they became more comfortable with the idea. Coaches, including Mayo, raved about his formal meeting at the combine.
At his pro day at UNC, they were impressed by his recall. Maye remembered everyone in the room and what they had discussed. He was able to correlate what he had operated in UNC's offense with what the Patriots are planning to run in offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt's new system. The scheme and verbiage were easy for Maye to grasp, and he came across as smart, engaging and personable to his eventual team.
And he threw well.
Maye was nitpicked after two of his first seven throws sailed over his receivers' heads. But after he settled into a rhythm, the Patriots were impressed, especially with his ball placement. He wasn't just throwing to open receivers. He was placing the ball as if a defense was present on the field.
Everyone in the building "got really comfortable" with taking Maye after his visit, when he proved what he had retained at his previous two meetings, according to a source. They believed he was a competitor, and they liked his makeup.
"A lot of the times that offense was on him, and he was the one carrying it," a source said. "He’s really good, and he’s wired the right way."
They knew how good of an athlete he was. Maye led Myers Park High School basketball in points and rebounds as a senior. Two of his teammates went on to play Division 1 basketball. He was playing over other future Division 1 hoopers.
The Patriots also attended pro days for Williams, Daniels, McCarthy, Nix and Washington's Michael Penix. They hosted Daniels, McCarthy and Penix on "30 visits" and felt like they had learned enough about Nix from their time at the combine and his pro day to take him if it became a reality. League executives at the NFL annual meeting in March believed it was a foregone conclusion that the Patriots would stay put to take a quarterback.
There were reports of interest from the Patriots in a trade down in the days leading up to the draft, but the team had a good idea that they were staying put. The Giants were willing to part with a future first-round pick to move up from No. 6 overall. The Vikings even wanted the Patriots to give up picks in their package that included the Nos. 11 and 23 overall picks plus a future first-rounder. Those offers would not get them to budge.
One source considered one of the remaining quarterbacks to be worthy of a late first-round pick and another as a second-rounder. The next three quarterbacks went off the board eighth, 10th and 12th overall. It didn't make sense for the Patriots to trade down only to overdraft a lesser quarterback.
Ultimately, the Patriots don't currently view next year's quarterback class to be as good as this year's, which is why six QBs came off the board in the first 12 picks. If the Patriots had traded back, they would have acquired a future first that would likely have to be packaged to trade up for a quarterback, an exercise that one source viewed as pointless, especially since there's no guarantee that a player as good as Maye would be available in 2025. And the Patriots' hope is that they're never drafting as high as third overall again.
Patriots training camp will have a different look this summer.
For the first time in five years, Patriots quarterbacks will be dropping back and firing fastballs at their intended targets. It's going to be night and day from the quarterback competitions in the immediate post-Tom Brady era with rookies Drake Maye and Joe Milton and free-agent addition Jacoby Brissett under center.
But Maye wasn't trusted as the Patriots' future franchise quarterback solely because of his big arm. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound passer impressed his new team every step of the way from his command of a room, to his memory and associative skills.
Maye will have a chance to earn a starting role, competing with Brissett, in training camp when the quarterback play will hardly resemble what was on the field when Jones and Bailey Zappe were dueling it out. After picking Maye, Wolf said that the team planned to continue adding weapons on offense and shore up the offensive line. They went on to select wide receivers Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker in the second and fourth rounds, respectively, offensive tackle Caedan Wallace in the third round and guard Layden Robinson in the fourth round.
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Their only "splash" free-agent moves came in the form of re-signings, but the hope is that Polk and Baker can contribute sooner than rookie Patriots receivers of the past, and that Wallace and Okorafor will battle it out for the starting left tackle role. There's confidence in the new coaching staff to put out a better offensive product.
And it's not out of the realm of possibility that Maye could be the Day 1 starter. But in order for that to become reality, Maye will need to continue to earn the team's trust. And he can do that by showing off his big arm, ball placement, athleticism, command of a room and ability to absorb and carry Van Pelt's offense.