Former North Carolina Tar Heels’ quarterback Drake Maye is in his first training camp with the New England Patriots after the franchise drafted him No. 3 overall back in April.
With the hope that the Patriots have found another franchise quarterback, they are still taking it slow with Maye this offseason. Head coach Jerod Mayo appears comfortable going with veteran Jacoby Brissett as the starter while leaving the door open for Maye to win the job.
And early on in camp, there have been ups and downs for Maye but the quarterback is learning from his mistakes. The latest mistake came on Friday when Matthew Judon had a pick-six on Maye.
The rookie responded by completing his next four passes of the team drill to end the practice. Following the practice, he talked to the media where he explained what happened:
“Just a rookie mistake, no pun intended,” Maye said. “Had a deep shot and was going to throw to the flat late, and in this league, they’re going to cover the running backs, so you’ve gotta make sure you look before you throw it.”
“You can’t ride the ups and downs,” he said. “Every play is a new play. I just can’t be too hard on myself. Sometimes, I get hard on myself, especially like I said, throwing my first interception, but yeah, just kind of bounce back. It’s how you bounce back in this league. And I’m trying to learn that.”
Maye faced adversity at North Carolina despite being one of the top quarterbacks in the country. But at the NFL level, it’s different especially for rookies.
The good news is that Maye understands what he did wrong and the mistake he made, responding by finishing the drill strong.
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