Every NFL team is looking toward one goal, and that's winning a Lombardi Trophy as the NFL's best. The New England Patriots got to the 2025 Super Bowl before injuries took their toll, and they were drubbed by a better team, the Seahawks.
Yet, one factor above all determines whether your chances are good and will remain so. That's your quarterback. There, the Patriots are not lacking at all, with Drake Maye at the helm.
Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon has commented on every NFL team's Super Bowl window, and his view on the Patriots' is a doozy. He rates their window as "a decade or more," the best odds of any team in the league.
It's due to the presence of the team's 23-year-old playcaller under center.
Drake Maye is the key to the Patriots present and future success
There's little doubt that the Patriots' selection of Drake Maye with the third pick in the 2024 NFL draft was a game-changer. Maye was the third of the top three quarterbacks available that year, and he's very likely the best.
He's already made the Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro in his first two seasons, and he's just scratching the surface of what he'll become.
Gagnon has put an exclamation point on that with his thoughts on the Patriots' Super Bowl window timeframe.
"MVP runner-up Drake Maye is still only 23, and this is a young roster that just went all the way. The veterans on board are replaceable with good drafting and smart decisions in free agency. Assuming Maye's sophomore success wasn't a fluke, they'll be in contention well into the 2030s."
This extended success, of course, depends entirely on whether the Patriots get an extension done with Maye after this season in a best-case scenario. He's going to be very costly, but it's the price you pay for competitiveness.
Soon, it will be time for the Patriots to pony up for a Super Bowl-level quarterback like they seldom, if ever, did for Tom Brady. There can be no doddling on locking up Maye to a multi-year extension soon after the 2026 season ends.
While cost is certainly a factor, it's the price of doing big business in the NFL if you want to compete for the highest award. Drake Maye is already an MVP-level player at the most important position in football, and he will get even better with more experience and a better supporting cast around him.
He needs to be paid as such, and the bill will come due for the Patriots after January or February of 2027. They can't afford not to pay the freight if their goal is actually winning.
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