The 2025 season has been forgettable, to say the least, in many areas for the Patriots.
The curtain will mercifully fall on this season on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills—who will be resting most of their starters—at Gillette Stadium. The 3-13 Patriots need a loss to secure the No. 1 pick in April's NFL draft.
A lot of collateral comes with having the No. 1 overall pick and not needing a quarterback. The Patriots have their man in Drake Maye. That's established. The best player in this year's draft is clearly Travis Hunter, a dual-threat that would give Maye an instant home-run threat on the outside and Christian Gonzalez, a lock-down cover partner in the secondary.
There's also the possibility of trading back and accumulating more picks or acquiring veterans, which some call for the Patriots to do, given how many holes they have on this roster, particularly at wide receiver and the defensive and offensive fronts.
All of this is exactly why the Patriots have zero business winning Sunday's game. None. Zilch.
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Jerod Mayo has said that the Patriots are playing to win. That's not a shock because what coach would tell the media they're trying to lose? It's not impossible to play hard and to lose.
And at the forefront of all that is Maye, who had no business playing in the fourth quarter of a Week 17 loss to the Chargers in which he kept getting hit, and spent some time in the injury tent in the first quarter before returning. Maye also showed up late this week on the injury report with a right-hand issue.
All those aforementioned factors lead up to Joe Milton's need to see a majority of the snaps at quarterback this week.
Getting the future of your franchise injured in a meaningless game would be a bad look for a coaching staff already on the hot seat. If Maye gets hurt and has to spend half his offseason recovering, every coach from Mayo on down should be fired on the spot.
This is a chance for Milton to show what he can do and that he can be Maye's backup from a long-term standpoint. He's a good athlete with a big arm and can run.
Beating Buffalo's JV team isn't worth losing draft capital, nor is it worth getting your franchise hurt. The Patriots have to think about what lies ahead beyond this meaningless game, and once it's over, start laying the groundwork to repair this roster.
Maye's best place on Sunday is on the bench, not under center.