Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
Drake Maye may have won the starting quarterback position last night.
Drake is in a tough spot as a rookie in the NFL. He is a great prospect on a not-so-great New England team whose fans are among the most supportive in football but with a very short fuse. What do you expect from a spoiled fanbase that enjoyed a two-decade dynasty with Tom Brady?
In his last two preseason games, Maye has given them hope that the franchise can be resurrected.
There is a reason the Patriots had the third pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. They won four games last season in the fourth year without Brady.
Cam Newton was too old and Mac Jones too small to keep the Pats competitive. Maye is only 21 but was an All-American for the Tar Heels at 19 and has all the family pedigree and success in college to sign a $36 million rookie contract.
Maye has no experience in the NFL and no real competition to win the Patriots starting position, so his rookie season may be ugly for him and his team.
But Sunday night, he showed glimpses of what he can become despite the depleted supporting cast that made Brady leave for free agency in 2020.
His best play was nullified by an unrelated penalty, when he ran to the left sideline and threw across his body for a long touchdown.
There was a penalty that nullified this TD, but this play is a great window into some of the special traits Drake Maye brings to the table
(🎥: @BenBrownPL) pic.twitter.com/clZ2q1NaFg
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) August 26, 2024
It wasn’t in his final stats of completing 13 of 20 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown that counted for a QB rating of 99.3 in the first half he played of the eventual 20-10 loss to the Washington Commanders.
New England has a decent defense but far from the offense that is needed to compete for a playoff berth. So Maye will likely suffer through the first losing season of his football life.
Whether he starts the opening game at Cincinnati, an almost certain loss, will depend on Drake’s continued improvement and whether the coaching staff and ownership want to throw the prized rookie into the cauldron right away.
Not to compare the Patriots to the new-dynasty Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes sat out his rookie season behind veteran Alex Smith, and it helped immeasurably when he became the starter the next year.
We all want to see Maye shine, but Mack Brown had a much better supporting cast at UNC than Drake has with his new team.
Featured image via Associated Press/Daniel Kucin, Jr.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines