For much of the last decade, the Patriots have been on the hunt for a legitimate successor to Tom Brady, hoping to have the greatest of all time mentor him to take over when he inevitably retires. The problem they ran into, of course, was that the quarterback shocked everyone and chose to leave New England after the 2019 season, leaving the team high and dry without a quarterback.
Much of the blame for that rests on Bill Belichick, who was the head coach and unofficial general manager for the last two decades. He failed to properly address the quarterback room in case disaster struck, and there's not much worse than watching your franchise quarterback leave just one year after winning another Super Bowl.
It left the team scrambling for the next four years to find the rightful heir to Brady's throne, trying a handful of quarterbacks to no avail. Fortunately, their fall to the bottom of the league gave them a top-5 selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, which led them to UNC's Drake Maye, who has already shown he could be the franchise's future.
He's going into the 2026 season coming off one of the most impressive campaigns by a second-year quarterback in league history, so expectations are high for what Maye can accomplish, especially after all the moves the team has made to improve the roster.
That pressure is mounting even more now that he's earning some high praise around the league, with Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon being the latest to show his belief in just how good Maye has been and can be in his career.
Drake Maye is setting the tone for the future of the Patriots and the NFL
Ranking the league's "true franchise players" for teams to build around is certainly not an easy task, given the amount of incredible talent around the NFL right now.
But when it comes to the Patriots and the current array of quarterbacks, it's much easier to do, which is why Gagnon chose Maye as the No. 1 player to build a franchise around for good reason.
"This is really a no-doubter considering that Maye led the NFL in completion percentage, passer rating, QBR and yards per attempt during a near-MVP sophomore campaign for the surprise AFC champion Patriots.
The schedule was soft, but the 23-year-old blew away expectations in building on a promising rookie campaign. He's already an elite weapon down the field as well as with his legs, and now he's got plenty of big-game experience entering Year 3."
If this isn't a sign of what's to come in New England, then it's difficult to say what could be clearer.
The Patriots have a star in the making, who fell shy of winning the MVP Award last season by just one vote, falling only behind Matthew Stafford.
And although he didn't have the most impressive postseason performance on the way to the Super Bowl, he still set a standard for what he can be in the NFL, and now he has a chance to prove the 2025 season wasn't a fluke, like many detractors continue to suggest.
It won't be easy, given that the Patriots have one of the most difficult schedules in the league, but Maye has already proven he is up for the task, and with a much-improved offense around him, the sky is the limit for what he can do, and the more he succeeds, the brighter the team's future appears.
Add us as a preferred source on Google