Drake Maye enters his second Patriots season with a plethora of changes around him. Those range from a terrific new Head Coach and tone-setter, Mike Vrabel, a whole host of new offensive weapons, and a new offensive line that will be far better than 2024's.
One other significant change that will have as big an impact on Maye's season and future as any other is his experienced and successful offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels. He can't block, and he can't catch or run, but McDaniels will have a massive impact on the offense, specifically on Maye's success quotient.
McDaniels will have control over shaping the new Patriots' offense, much of which is already accomplished, but will be further refined as the coaches evaluate their personnel.
There are several reasons why the Patriots' success and Maye's success will, to a great extent, depend on how well Josh McDaniels crafts an offense that utilizes his players' abilities to the best of their abilities.
Josh McDaniels has to fashion his offense to exploit Drake Maye's full skill set
Josh McDaniels has been a coordinator who, for the most part, has worked with pocket-passing quarterbacks with limited running ability. While he did work with Cam Newton in 2021, his experience working with an RPO-type QB is limited. This could impact how he's fashioning his 2025 offense.
Maye's skill as a runner was used mostly under duress in 2024. He had to scramble for his life far too often due to his poor offensive line. This season, that will change significantly if not dramatically. That's where utilizing his dual-threat, pass/run capabilities, and the deception factor steps square into the offensive equation.
Utilizing RPO and play-action to set up other aspects of the offense maximizes Maye's abilities. Adding scripted runs to every game plan is also useful. At the same time, you don't want your No. One asset running a lot, the threat of the running he does so well, has to be part of the scheme.
Maye's and the team's success will depend on McDaniels' strategy
Another aspect that will dramatically impact Maye's year-two leap will be how McDaniels utilizes his tight ends, a particular skill of his in the past. When you have Ron Gronkowski, it makes it easier. Yet, McDaniels does have two bona fide NFL tight ends in Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper on board. He may also have a significant ancillary blocker available in an undrafted free agent, CJ Dippre.
McDaniels will know how best to utilize all of the above players to maximum benefit. It will be revealing to see how much he can ramp up the TE room this season. Another seldom-used position, which was also a staple for McDaniels and Belichick, was fullback. His best were Sam Gash and James Develin. The Pats brought in undrafted rookie fullback Brock Lampe from Northern Illinois. Maybe he'll stick.
Finally, McDaniels has to develop his offense to take full advantage of his two most explosive players. They're rookies: running back TreVeyon Henderson and wide receiver Kyle Williams. Both are home-run threats, an asset the Patriots have lacked for years.
McDaniels can further shape his offense by using play-action and RPO to get those two explosive players in space. That would significantly impact Drake Maye's performance. Those are a few reasons why Josh McDaniels is crucial to both Drake Maye's continued development and the overall effectiveness of the Patriots' offense. If he gets it right, the sky's the limit for both of them.