Patriots Drake Maye shared his thoughts on Mike Vrabel, Will Campbell, and Stefon Diggs The Patriots' quarterback also said he's been watching old clips of Tom Brady (among other quarterbacks) while learning the Josh McDaniels playbook. Drake Maye during the 2024 season. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty Patriots quarterback Drake Maye spoke to reporters on Thursday, answering questions on a range of topics amid the team’s sweeping changes over the last several months.
With New England now in its offseason program, Maye has been able to begin getting a sense of what new head coach Mike Vrabel’s approach will be. He’s also connected with some of the new additions to the roster. Here are a few takeaways from the press conference: His initial impression of Mike Vrabel After spending his rookie season playing under a different head coach, Maye is now re-acclimating under Vrabel.
The 22-year-old quarterback indicated that the former Patriots defensive edge rusher (named as Jerod Mayo’s successor) has hit the ground running. Advertisement: “It’s been great with coach,” Maye said of Vrabel. “He’s come in here, and it seems like he’s been here awhile.
He’s so comfortable being a head coach. He’s done it before. He’s done it a high level, won a lot of games, so looking forward to getting things going.
You can see he’s trying install a new identity, and I think we’re building toward that.” Asked about the “vibe” that Vrabel brings, Maye had an interesting way of putting it. “I think it’s, come in here and have your head on a swivel and get to work. I think that’s the vibe I’ve caught.” He’s excited to play alongside Will Campbell.
The Patriots selected offensive tackle Will Campbell with the fourth overall pick in the recent NFL Draft. The emphasis on trying to help protect Maye was punctuated by Campbell’s emotional quote on draft night, “I’m going to fight and die to protect him with everything I’ve got.” Advertisement: “I listened to it live,” Maye said of Campbell’s words. “It gets you going, gets your juices going.
It makes you want to go out there and play football now, so [I’m] pumped that we picked Will. “Got a chance to meet him when he flew in on Friday,” the quarterback added, “so pumped to get things going. Obviously he seems like a football player, and that’s what you want around here.” He’s studying Tom Brady to learn the Josh McDaniels system.
Along with Vrabel, the Patriots have brought back another familiar name: Josh McDaniels, who will once again assume the mantle of offensive coordinator. The former Raiders head coach has plenty of experience in the role in New England, coaching Tom Brady during his prime years with the Patriots. “His stuff works.
The kind of proof’s in the pudding,” Maye explained when asked about McDaniels. “He’s coached a lot of different guys. He coached the best to ever do it, so it’s pretty cool getting to watch old things of Tom and see how he does it, and a bunch of different guys playing at a high level in the offense, not just Tom.
So it’s been cool to watch, and I’m kind of learning the ways and the ins and outs of it.” Advertisement: Maye also pointed out that he’s been afforded some input into what specific system McDaniels builds. “Coach has been great with asking about stuff I like, stuff I liked from last year that we ran, stuff that I like that they do that I’ve seen on film,” he said. “I think it’ll be good for us because we’ll be able to do a lot.
I think it’ll be challenging to find out exactly what is going to be our stuff. That’s the fun part, the chess match against the defensive coordinators.” Stefon Diggs is someone he looked up to prior to his NFL career. The highest profile Patriots wide receiver signed during the offseason was former Bills All-Pro Stefon Diggs.
Diggs, 31, is coming off an ACL tear, and might not be ready for the start of the season. Still, Maye sounded thrilled with the addition of a player he looked up to when he was younger. “Stefon, he’s one of those guys growing up, when I was in high school he was a young [player] in the league, had him on my fantasy team, things like that, playing with him in Madden,” Maye told reporters.
“So it’s pretty cool to hopefully now this season be throwing to him. “He’s coming back from injury and it looks like he’s doing great,” added Maye. “He’s been around, and I think it’s going to be cool to throw to a receiver who has made plays like he has, who’s made big plays in playoff games, who’s been in a lot of different schemes, who’s played with high-level quarterbacks to see kind of his point of view from different stuff.
It’s my job to give him a chance to go get it.” His reaction to the Joe Milton trade On the subject of Patriots quarterbacks, the notable offseason decision was the trade of backup Joe Milton to the Cowboys prior to the draft. Milton had been drafted like Maye in 2024 (as a sixth-round pick) and won the season finale against the Bills in his only start. Advertisement: “I texted Joe,” Maye replied.
“I mean me and Joe, we came in [the NFL] together, we learned the offense together, we were competing every day to see who could out-throw each other in practice, and obviously he’s got a big arm, so it’s cool for him to get a chance to hopefully go and be a backup, and I think you saw in the Bills game his potential.” Maye credited Milton with helping him grow during his rookie season, saying that it was “cool to be in the room and have somebody to bounce ideas off of.” Looking ahead, the young New England signal-caller said he is rooting for his now former teammte. “Pulling for Joe, and you never know, I may play him again or see him down the road.” Hayden Bird Sports Staff Hayden Bird is a sports staff writer for Boston.com, where he has worked since 2016. He covers all things sports in New England.
