The New England Patriots 2024 season is effectively over as far as playoff contention is concerned. Any wishful thinking about that has been crushed by another loss to the LA Rams in a winnable game. It is what it is, a season that might have been.
One perfectly clear thing, however, is that one off-season move that Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf made worked out brilliantly. That was brushing off all the caterwauling to trade down in the NFL draft and still taking quarterback Drake Maye with the third-overall pick. It was a Grand Slam Home Run pick. Regrettably, the rest of the offseason moves were strikeouts.
Maye has proven all the naysayers wrong to this point by his play on the field. He's taken a moribund Patriots' offense with a terrible offensive line, poor wide receivers, and no playmakers and made it competitive. Let's look at how Maye has excelled and given the Patriots a chance to win. If he'd started all along, he may have been the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Patriots' Drake Maye shows maturity beyond his years
Drake Maye was panned by several of the NFL's so-called cognoscenti for a host of reasons. They ranged from his age to terrible footwork, poor arm angles, throwing off his back foot, etc. By his play, Maye has shown all that to be complete and utter rubbish.
In Week 6, the rookie stepped in and looked like a veteran with poise and control of the offense, which is devoid of weapons. He plays with the proverbial ice water in his veins. He doesn't get rattled in the worst situations, takes his lumps, gets off the canvas, and goes back to work.
He's had his mistakes, including two last-second interceptions with the game on the line and a couple of strip sacks. It happens to the best of them. The issue here is, why wasn't Maye recognized as the starter from the early camps and given first-team reps all along? If he had, many of these "rookie mistakes" might have evaporated by now.
Maye's performance against the Rams in another heartbreaking loss demonstrates how well the young QB is progressing. Maye completed 30 of 40 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns with one interception on the last offensive play for the Pats.
Even mathematically challenged observers such as yours truly can ascertain that equals a 75 percent completion percentage. He's improving by the week. And while he had the interception and a strip-sack in this game, he's not prone to mistakes.
Maye is saddled with an inferior offensive line and has little talent in his wide receiver corps at all. He's had to make do with what he has and tolerate the drops (three against LA?) by his stone-fingered receivers, plays that should have been big gainers. In addition, the Patriots' defense has disappointed, and he's had to try to make up for their deficiencies. It's a tall order for a veteran, never mind a rookie.
Patriots Maye is playing like an Offensive Rookie of the Year
That's a lot of bad news. The good news is that the Patriots have their quarterback not only of the present but of the future. It's now incumbent on the player personnel department to provide the accompaniment he needs to succeed.
Maye's season's stats are encouraging. He's completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 954 yards, seven TDs, and 5 INTs thus far in six starts. The Rams' game was his best outing thus far. However, what's holding the young QB back is totally out of his control. It's his accompanying cast.
The die was cast in the offseason by a woeful performance by Eliot Wolf. Wolf's only solid move was drafting Maye. He was given a top grade here for that. Subsequently, Wolf flunked his first offseason in charge. He flubbed free agency and then, after Maye, bungled the draft. Top teams are built in the offseason. Wolf graded F, except for drafting Maye.
Wolf's gaffes left Maye with a terrible offensive line and poor wide receivers. The offensive line makes the whole team go. It's been a flop. Wide receivers who can get open make the QB's job easier. Maye's can't. It's a lousy situation, yet Maye succeeds anyway.
With the tanked 2024 season in the dumpster, as expected, the hope now is for the future. The Patriots have their quarterback. They need to now provide him with top players to succeed. Maye's done admirably with a poor supporting cast. What will he do if they can get him a good one? It will be interesting to see.