Wiggy: Not starting Drake Maye Week 1 would be a big mistake

Tell me if you’ve heard this story in New England recently: a quarterback picked in the early first round by the Patriots is expected to slot in behind a veteran QB for the start of the season, but after an impressive start to training camp wins over fans and media who demand he start Week 1.

Drake Maye is far from Mac Jones 2.0, hopefully, but a similar situation may be unfolding in Foxborough.

When New England selected Maye with the third overall pick this year, many expected the former North Carolina Tar Heel to wait out the better part of his rookie season while veteran QB Jacoby Brissett took the starting job, but the tides seem to be turning on that idea.

ESPN released an article ranking all 32 NFL starting lineups this season, and New England came in at 27. But the article interestingly named Maye as their projected starter for the Patriots at the quarterback position.

Jermaine Wiggins on WEEI’s Greg Hill Show agreed with this idea Wednesday morning, saying that head coach Jerod Mayo choosing to not start Maye in Week 1 would be his “biggest mistake as head coach.” Listen to the full segment above.

“Put him out there, let him learn on the job,” Wiggy said. “Why’d the hell you draft him number three overall? What are you going to do, sit him behind Jacoby Brissett?”

Hill then interjected that New England’s offensive line is too bad to put a rookie quarterback behind (Pro Football Network ranks them 30th in the NFL). But Wiggy believed that the offensive line is not as big of an issue as it’s being made out to be.

“Would we stop with the offensive line stuff?,” Wiggy responded. “The Houston Texans didn’t have a great offensive line, Cincinnati didn’t have a great offensive line [in] Joe Burrow’s first year. Your offensive line, you’ve got [David] Andrews at center, you’ve got [Michael] Onwenu…you added a few pieces. They’ll be fine, they’ll run the football, they’re not going to make Drake Maye throw the football 50 times a game.

“[Maye]’s got athletic ability so they’ll sprinkle a little misdirection in there, they’ll use his legs a little bit.”