Jerod Mayo mum on whether Patriots rookie QB Drake Maye will work with starters this week

All six of the first-round rookie quarterbacks own different time tables to a starting job. For Drake Maye, his time as QB1 with the Patriots could be coming sooner than originally thought.

Maye, the former North Carolina star, enjoyed a nice outing against the Eagles on Thursday night at Gillette Stadium. Then, on Friday morning, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo told reporters there’s a possibility Maye could start seeing first-team reps in practice next week.

“We’ll see,” Mayo said in a media availability. “We’ll have a staff meeting later today and that decision will be made. I think he definitely showed improvement (Thursday night). We’ll see going forward.”

Asked Jerod Mayo if he could envision Drake Maye receiving first-team reps in practice this week after the Patriots HC said the starting QB battle is not settled.

"We'll see. We'll have a staff meeting later today and that decision will be made. I think he definitely showed…

— Doug Kyed (@DougKyed) August 16, 2024

Williams, Daniels already starters from first-round group

Maye, the likely future of the Patriots, went No. 3 in April’s NFL Draft. He also was the third quarterback off the board. Caleb Williams, the top pick of the draft, is the starter for the Bears. So is Jayden Daniels, the second pick, with the Commanders.

Michael Penix was the fourth quarterback off the board, going No. 8 to the Falcons. He’s not going to start this season unless Kirk Cousins is injured. J.J. McCarthy was the fifth quarterback drafted. Sadly, after a nice debut for the Vikings, McCarthy tore cartilage in his knee and is out for the season. He’s the first quarterback selected in the first round to miss his entire season because of injury since at least 1967, the common era of the draft.

Bo Nix, whom the Broncos selected with the 12th pick, is still locked into a three-way competition for the top job in Denver.

Patriots coach said he quadrupled Maye’s snaps in game

Now, back to the Patriots. Mayo gave Maye four times as many snaps as he did in his preseason debut last weekend. The Patriots already have Jacoby Brissett as a sort of buffer/insurance policy to use until Maye is ready for the starting job. Brissett gave way to Maye for the second half in Thursday night’s game.

“That was always the plan, kind of what I told you guys last week,” Mayo said about Maye getting more snaps. “That was always the plan to play him more. It was the plan to play him in the third quarter so we can go through some of those adjustments and see if he can handle that stuff, and he did.”

So how’d Maye do? He led four drives for the Patriots. His best pass probably was the one not caught. He heaved a 50-yarder to Javon Baker, who couldn’t come up with the reception. Maye scored a touchdown on a called run. And overall, he completed six of his 11 passes for 47 yards.

“He had great composure,” Mayo said of his young quarterback. “I thought he went out there and did a lot of good things. Hopefully, he can build on that, and we’ll see how this week goes.”