Would Drake Maye check off the ‘toughness’ box for Patriots? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
They can all throw. They can all run. They all have the whiff of franchise guys. The top four quarterbacks at the top of this draft – Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy – all have oodles of highlights that make you go, “Jaysus!!!” It’s why they’re up there.
Harder to find are plays or sequences that tell the story of something the Patriots are seeking. Toughness. How do they respond to the inevitable physical punishment of the position? How quickly do they get to their feet? How do they play in the immediate aftermath?
When it comes to Drake Maye, the Patriots can glean an answer early in a 95-minute YouTube cutup of every single throw and run from his 2023 season.
It starts at the 12:55 mark. North Carolina hosting Minnesota in the season’s third game. Second-and-6 at the 36. First quarter.
Maye takes a shotgun snap, browses left, glances right and – with a rusher coming free – bolts the pocket.
As he gets to the line, a diving edge rusher gets him around the thighs. Just as Maye’s about to hit the turf, 6-foot-2, 305-pound Kyler Baugh dives onto him full force. It’s an attempted spear but Baugh’s aim is off and he ends up driving his shoulder into Maye’s back. Baugh came down at such a steep angle, his feet are actually off the ground and pedal in the air. No flag.
You see Maye react briefly to the pain, bowing his head as he’s still down (16:20 mark on this full-game clip). But there’s no histrionics. No complaining to officials. The camera leaves him and returns two seconds later and he’s up and getting a play from the sideline.
On the next play, Maye takes off on a full-speed, purposeful scramble and picks up seven yards on third-and-6. And on the next, he rips what may have been his best throw of the day through traffic for a 15-yard gain.
The other 94 minutes has plenty of picks, bad footwork and weird…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/drake-maye-check-off-toughness-131131339.html
Author : NBC Sports Boston
Publish date : 2024-04-02 13:11:31
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