Seahawks WR makes huge claims about Patriots' Drake Maye

Seattle Seahawks backup quarterback Sam Howell is close friends with New England Patriots rookie signal-caller Drake Maye, and the two spent time during a summer throwing session working with Seattle wide receiver Jake Bobo.

Bobo recently spoke with NESN's Greg Dudek about what excited New England fans can expect to see from Maye whenever the third overall pick of this year's draft replaces veteran Jacoby Brissett as the Patriots QB1.

"Just right off the bat you could tell he's going to be a stud," Bobo said about Maye. " Obviously, he's young, but the arm talent is there. Just talking ball with him, he's one of the smartest dudes probably I've been able to talk shop with. He's definitely impressive."

Maye outperformed Brissett in preseason action but entered this past Sunday's season opener at the Cincinnati Bengals as a backup. The 22-year-old then watched as Brissett avoided costly miscues to help New England earn an upset 16-10 win at Paycor Stadium.

"I love it for Drake," Bobo said about the first-year pro learning about life in the NFL while serving as Brissett's backup. "...Just being able to learn under a guy like Jacoby, who's a vet, and just being able to take however long it is that he's sitting behind him to just learn in this league because there's so much that goes on on a day-to-day basis in terms of scheme and game plan and literally on-the-field calling the play that the regular game-watcher doesn't necessarily realize."

The Patriots temporarily silenced chatter about the team possibly "tanking" this season with 2025 and 2026 in mind via their Week 1 victory. Critics of the club's overall roster nevertheless still believe it's only a matter of time before New England hands the keys of the offense over to Maye this fall once Brissett has a losing record.

Bobo indicated Maye possesses more than just the physical attributes needed to succeed as a rookie.

"Personality-wise, I can see him being easy to follow just as a quarterback," Bobo added about Maye. "Growing up in the Tom Brady golden age, there's more to playing quarterback than just throwing the ball perfectly down the sideline and he's got it. I felt like in the short time I had with him he's got it. He'll be a great quarterback in this league. There's no doubt in my mind."

It seems unlikely Maye would make anything other than a garbage-time appearance in this Sunday's matchup between the 1-0 Seahawks and 1-0 Patriots at New England's Gillette Stadium as long as Brissett stays healthy. Thus, impatient Patriots fans will have to wait a little longer to see if Bobo's scouting report of Maye proves to be accurate.