Jerod Mayo shares first impressions of Drake Maye Patriots rookie minicamp

Mayo acknowledged that Maye still has to develop, but is optimistic that the quarterback will take the steps necessary in order to do so. He also shared the work Maye’s been putting in off the field to start his Patriots tenure, too.

“He has a lot to work on,” Mayo said of Maye. “He has a lot to work on, but I have no doubt that he’ll put the time in. So, I know you guys didn’t see him out here yesterday, but he was here all night and trying to get on the same page as everyone else.”

As Maye settles in at Foxborough, he’s working a bit behind the veteran quarterbacks. To make matters a bit more difficult, Maye can only meet with Patriots coaches for a certain amount of time during the early offseason workouts due to NFL rules.

Mayo acknowledged that the time restrictions aren’t ideal for getting Maye up to speed on the playbook, but he didn’t seem too concerned, either.

“It just comes down to time, that’s the biggest hurdle,” Mayo said of Maye learning the playbook. “Then, you work on some of these Phase 2, Phase 3 rules, where you don’t have as much time as you want to, so you can’t have those conversations. Hard work works. We talk about it all the time. He’s working hard.”

Maye isn’t the only rookie quarterback in the fold in Foxborough this offseason. The team also selected strong-armed quarterback Joe Milton in the sixth round.

Mayo also seemed impressed by Milton’s arm when he was asked if he’d seen the Tennessee product thrown yet. He also added that Milton will receive the same developmental treatment as Maye.

“You have to do it together,” Mayo said of developing the two young quarterbacks. “We want it to be a fair competition, especially when we’re doing offense vs. defense. We have a lot of coaches here that know the position. So those guys, after the allotted time, have to take it on their own to go out there and get better. That’s where you really start to see separation of those guys that do a little bit extra.”

Beyond the quarterbacks, fourth-round wide receiver Javon Baker seemed to gain the most buzz during draft weekend out of the Patriots’ selections. The UCF product made a bold statement in the first question of his introductory conference call, telling reporters, “Bring your popcorn. I make people in wheelchairs stand up.”

In a change from his predecessor, Mayo didn’t seem to mind Baker’s comments. But he wants him to back them up on the field.

“Honestly, for me, I want these guys to have a personality, to feel free to talk about certain things,” Mayo said. “Look, we’ll have rules of what to talk about. But now, once he puts it out there, he has to show it every day on the football field. If not, he’s just a talker and you start to lose the respect of the locker room and things like that. He said it, he put it out there, and now he has to show it.”

Rookie minicamp is a good place for Baker to start backing those words up. But ultimately, Baker will be judged by what he does on Sundays in the fall, and Mayo knows that.

“There are a lot of guys that came out here and look good in shorts and T-shirts,” Mayo said. “But the thing we have to remember is that it’s football. There have been a lot of shorts and T-shirts All-Stars that have never really touched the field. So, we’ll have to wait and see before we put the pads on.”