Jerod Mayo addresses reported struggles of Drake Maye

Those who observed New England Patriots practice this week, such as Sean T. McGuire of NESN, reported that rookie quarterback Drake Maye “struggled” during the first couple padded practices.

Head coach Jerod Mayo addressed Maye’s apparent struggles while speaking with the media after Thursday’s practice and said it’s “not all peaches and cream” when you’re a rookie in the NFL. Mayo understands being a former player that there will be growing pains, but his confidence in Maye hasn’t wavered.

“People are gonna have their opinions,” Mayo said. “I would say the opinions inside of the four walls matter most. And I would say the people inside of the four walls know what they’re talking about, and so you can take that for what it is. We all support Drake. We all know what it’s like to be a rookie in this league. … It’s not all peaches and cream.

“In San Franscico my rookie year, I got benched on third down. I only played the early downs because I just wasn’t ready and that was like Week 10. But it was a wakeup call for me to get benched and from there on I was — I was Rookie of the Year and still got benched. So, whatever you wanna talk about with Drake, there will be ups and downs and hopefully it ends on an up.”

Jerod Mayo remains confident in Drake Maye

While Maye is New England’s quarterback of the future, the organization brought in veteran signal caller Jacoby Brissett during free agency. Mayo has said that Brissett is QB1 for now but hasn’t ruled out Maye in the competition.

Maye said Thursday that Maye will have an opportunity to work with the ones during training camp.

“[I]t’s the second week of training camp,” Mayo said. “We have a game here a week from now. He’ll have an opportunity to go out there and participate with, if you want to call them ‘The Ones,’ but we mix and match.”

Mayo added that he likes the way Maye and the other rookies have handled the adjustment from college to their first professional training camp.

“I would say all the rookies are battling through things,” Mayo said. “It’s a different scheme. It’s a different state. There’s just so much change for these guys. But what you want to see as those guys go through adversity, you want to see them handle it the right way. You don’t want to see the explosions on the sideline. You don’t want to see any of that. It’s all about the next page and turning the page, and that’s what I appreciate.”