Analyzing How Patriots QB Drake Maye Can Improve in Training Camp
Of all the position group battles entering New England Patriots training camp, none are more certainly decided than that at quarterback.
Obviously Drake Maye is going to be the starter. There is no chance that backup journeyman Tommy DeVito or rookie seventh-rounder Behren Morton will displace him. Given the historic trends of the Josh McDaniels offense, the depth chart will likely remain in that exact order for those exact reasons.
For that reason, the question entering training camp is less about the position battle around Maye and more about his own personal development.
Maye undeniably took massive strides in his sophomore campaign, playing at an MVP-caliber level through most of his first season as a full-time starter. However, particularly in the playoffs, his performance left a lot to be desired.
As a rookie, Maye showed expected signs of inexperience: holding onto the ball, hero-ball turnovers, scrambling early. As his sophomore season continued, Maye evolved into a poised and decisive pocket-passer - just to revert in the playoffs back to a style of play reminiscent of his early games.
For Maye to solidify his status as one of the league's premier passers, his next step in development can be boiled down into a pretty simple phrase: he needs to play smarter.
How Maye Can 'Play Smarter' in 2026
One aspect of playing smarter is straightforward: Being able to read complex defenses.
Despite MVP-level play through much of the season, Maye never quite seemed fully comfortable at the line of scrimmage pre-snap. His limited ability to adjust plays based on pre-snap defensive looks was a major contributor to his struggles against both simulated and natural pressure in the playoffs. Against some of the most intricate defenses in the NFL like the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, this was an Achilles' heel for the offense.
With limited productivity beyond one or two progression reads and in adjusting protections up front, Maye also struggled to get the ball out quickly. This meant that, against heavy pressure, he consistently held onto the ball too long and often took unnecessary sacks.
This brings up the second aspect of playing smarter: Avoiding negative plays.
Maye's ball security was an obvious issue throughout the playoffs, with a staggering seven fumbles. Beyond that, he seemed paralyzed in the pocket, taking a record 21 sacks in the team's Super Bowl campaign. While turnovers are a self-explanatory backbreaking issue for an offense, the cumulative impact of chunk negative yardage, particularly on first and second downs, can be just as detriemental.
These negative plays in particular seemed to be an area that Maye improved in through the regular season before inexplicably regressing in the playoffs.
These two hurdles in the mental aspect of Maye's play are highly correlative. Because Maye struggled to identify pre-snap red flags, he struggled to identify his hot reads, and therefore found himself under pressure without any solutions. Early in the Super Bowl, this is exactly what the Seahawks exploited by sending rare (by their standards) design blitzes early just to stay back through the rest of the game.
Going into training camp, his decision-making will be a focal point in predicting the team's success in 2026. Entering his second season now with McDaniels means there is now continuity in his offensive development - this should certainly help.
Nonetheless, it remains impressive that Maye was able to perform at the level he did last year despite these glaring areas of improvement. This, above all, should provide hope to Patriots fans that the team has genuine reason to be hopeful about this upcoming season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/patriots/onsi as Analyzing How Patriots QB Drake Maye Can Improve in Training Camp.
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This story was originally published July 16, 2026 at 7:00 AM.