Cause for concern? Joe Milton reportedly outplaying Drake Maye during New England Patriots training camp

After trading Mac Jones for a bag of footballs, the New England Patriots had a desperate need to upgrade the quarterback position during the 2024 offseason. So when it came to make their selection with the third overall pick, selecting the best QB available, Drake Maye, seemed like a no-brainer.

Of course, the Patriots could have always traded down and likely collected a massive haul of draft assets, including a 2025 first-round pick. But they didn’t. Another option would have been to select J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix, or Bo Nix. The point is, the Patriots didn’t have to take Maye. They had plenty of options.

Only, New England did draft the North Carolina star. Yet, the Patriots also drafted the cannon-armed Joe Milton with the 193rd overall pick in the draft, too. It’s not quite a Robert Griffin III-Kirk Cousins scenario, when Washington traded up to take RGIII, only to select Cousins in the fourth round. But it’s not far off.

Washington’s awkward approach ultimately somewhat worked out. They couldn’t have ever predicted that Griffin would get hurt. But seeing Cousins become a four-time Pro Bowl quarterback justified their selection, even if they didn’t want to pay him market value.

But for New England, taking a shot on Milton in the sixth round also made a lot of sense, even if it sets up a unique scenario in the locker room. From a practical sense, there’s no reason why Maye should be worried about a sixth-round selection, yet, based on early returns from Patriots camp, maybe he should be concerned.

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Joe Milton outplaying Drake Maye at New England Patriots camp?

The New England Patriots wrapped up a two-hour padded practice on Tuesday, one of the first true tests of the offseason. Yet, the offense was far from flawless.

According to the Boston Globe’s Patriots insider Ben Volin, Drake Maye has been getting outplayed by Joe Milton.

“Drake Maye continues to underwhelm while Joe Milton impresses. I wrote after last Thursday’s practice that Milton is the “wow” quarterback at camp — the guy with the best size, best athleticism, and biggest arm. Now I’ll take it a step further: Milton outplayed Maye over the first six practices of camp. You can’t tell which player is the No. 3 overall pick (Maye) and which is the sixth-round flier (Milton).

Maye is running second on the depth chart and getting a ton of work, but he hasn’t made many noteworthy throws. He was the only quarterback not to throw a touchdown pass in a red zone drill Tuesday, while Milton, in limited reps, threw touchdowns on consecutive plays, one on a drag to Polk and another on an RPO slant to JuJu Smith-Schuster.

In the red zone/two-minute situation, Maye had an ugly, off-platform throw that went way wide of Smith-Schuster, a hospital ball to tight end Mitchell Wilcox that got him sandwiched between two defenders, and an incomplete corner fade to Javon Baker in the end zone that had the entire offense doing pushups.
Meanwhile, Milton wows the crowd every day with his tantalizing arm and standing backflips. After Maye struggled in the red zone, Milton promptly came in and completed a nice pass to Kawaan Baker on the sideline.”

Ben Volin

It’s great that Bazooka Joe Milton is vindicating the Patriots’ confidence in him. But if this trend continues, how long until the locker room wants to see what the sixth-round rookie can do, instead of the third overall pick?

Maye has a lot of time to figure it out. The Patriots don’t kick off their season until September 8, and he may not even be the starter, thanks to Jacoby Brissett’s presence. Yet, some would like to see Maye make more progress.

Then there’s also the age factor. Maye is just 21 years old, while Milton is 24. Even though Milton only started for one season at Tennessee, as Volin noted, he has a very lively arm. So while Milton may be ahead of the race for now, fans shouldn’t be overly concerned about Maye quite yet.

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