Patriots executive shares how Drake Maye will serve as backup

The New England Patriots selected quarterback Drake Maye third overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. However, it seems that the team would be fine with Maye spending much of his rookie season learning about life in the NFL as a backup for veteran Jacoby Brissett.

Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf recently spoke with Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald (h/t MassLive) about what's expected of Maye heading into New England's regular-season opener at the Cincinnati Bengals this coming Sunday afternoon.

"We do have confidence in Drake," Wolf explained. "It’s not like we’re just going to let him collect dust for the year. He’s going to be out there in practice taking reps. He’s going to take some reps with the [starters], he’s going to take some reps on the scout team and continue to progress and develop in that regard."

Most, if not all, experts believe the 2024 Patriots will lose much more than they win through Week 18. Three MassLive staff members predicted earlier this week that New England would finish the campaign at 4-13, and DraftKings Sportsbook had the Patriots at +175 betting odds to win over 5.5 games this season as of Thursday afternoon.

Such forecasts and history suggest it will be a matter of when, not if, impatient fans will begin clamoring for first-year head coach Jerod Mayo to turn to Maye because the Patriots won't have "anything to lose" in playing the first-year pro. Wolf indicated he and Mayo hope Brissett will be able to silence such chatter beginning with Sunday's matchup at Paycor Stadium.

"Obviously," Wolf said about when Maye could play, " it’s going to depend on how the team’s doing. And if Jacoby’s lighting it up, the chances of Drake getting in there are going to be lessened."

Teams often like to wait until byes to give rookie quarterbacks their first starts, but New England's break arrives in Week 14 in December.  Paying customers may not tolerate watching Brissett lose games through November before they see how Maye has improved from his last preseason appearance.

On Thursday, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Patriots as 8.5-point underdogs versus the Bengals.