For the first time in his career, Drake Maye is looking forward to having an offseason of consistency within the New England Patriots coaching staff. He started his career with former head coach Jerod Mayo and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt as one of the worst teams in the NFL, and now he's with current HC Mike Vrabel and OC Josh McDaniels — a combo that already paid off with a Super Bowl appearance.
For what it’s worth, Maye has never had the same offensive coordinator as a starter, dating back to his three years playing at North Carolina and into the NFL. In his first season working with McDaniels and his structured offense, Maye performed at an MVP level, finishing his first season as a full-time starter with 4,394 yards, 35 total touchdowns, and even leading the NFL with a 72.0% completion rate.
Along with McDaniels, the offense received contributions from assistant coaches like passing game coordinator Thomas Brown and QBs coach Ashton Grant, who worked with Maye during the season. It’s worth mentioning that both Grant and Brown have been considered for larger roles around the league.
Grant recently said he’ll be returning to New England for 2026, and it looks like Brown will be doing the same despite having multiple interview requests.
Drake Maye Is Looking Forward to Having Consistency on Patriots Coaching Staff
During his exit press conference with local media on Feb. 10, Maye expressed that he can learn from the past season, as well as his eagerness to improve over the offseason with the same offensive coaching staff returning for next season.
"This was my first year in this offense. I was the full-time starter. I had a chance to learn so much from a great offensive coordinator, and Ashton has been awesome with just relaying the connections between the past offense that he was in with the Browns that we had later last year, and just translating it, and now using our own terminology and building the foundation for this offense. There’s so much more we can take this offense and give me more tools and more answers at the line of scrimmage... So, I’m looking forward to it. Getting a chance to be in the same offense for the second year... I think the sky’s the limit for us."Drake Maye, Patriots QB
In his first season working in a new offense, Maye took a huge leap in his second year, both as a QB and a leader, as the two go hand-in-hand. Maye now has a firm understanding of the offense, allowing him to be a stronger leader on the team while also building confidence within himself. He could see the overall improvements in the team from his first year to his second year, as the team bought into Vrabel’s coaching style and his philosophy of building a team.
As the starting QB, it goes a long way for the rest of the team to see Maye perform well following the head coach's direction.Â
When it comes to personnel, Maye hasn’t had consistency with playmakers yet, but that should change as Vrabel continues to build his team with an upgraded roster in his second year as head coach. Going into his third year, Maye’s best connections are with wide receiver Kayshon Boutte and tight end Hunter Henry.
The addition of veteran receiver Stefon Diggs was an example that Maye can be successful when he has the proper weapons in his arsenal. For a large part of his career, Diggs was one of the best route runners in the NFL, and although he played with Maye for only one season, it showed the type of success that the franchise QB can have with an experienced veteran, having turned in his first 1,000-yard receiver.
For what it’s worth, Maye is talented enough to lead an offense that doesn’t necessarily have the top talent for wide receivers that we see on other teams around the league. As he grows more in this offense and continues to work with McDaniels for another year, he’s going to be able to make the players around him better, and he won't always need to have top talent around him because of that.
Next season, Maye is going to be entering his third year, but it’ll be just his second year in an offense that he performed at a near-master level in his first year in it. Needless to say, it’s a fair assumption that he should perform even better with a year under his belt in this system.