Jerod Mayo explains Drake Maye’s limited reps vs. Panthers 

After an up-and-down showing for New England’s promising young QB during training camp, that initial drive against the Panthers stood as a promising step in the right direction for the future of the franchise.

The only problem, however, was that Maye had zero opportunities to build off of that start in New England’s preseason opener. 

Despite getting the keys to New England’s offense early in the first quarter, Maye’s first drive on Thursday marked his only one of the game, with the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft only logging one series and seven total snaps in the Patriots’ 17-3 win over Carolina. 

Despite those limited reps for New England’s potential franchise fixture at QB, Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo stressed that both Jacoby Brissett (four snaps) and Maye’s small workload under center was “always the plan.”

“We wanted to see Jacoby, obviously, go out there and operate, as well as Drake — mixing them in there with the [first unit],” Mayo added. “The rest of those guys like [Bailey] Zappe and Joe [Milton]. They went out there and finished up the game and I thought they did a good job. 

“But that was kind of the thinking. So next week, we have the Eagles, so we’ll practice against them, and who knows, the reps will probably change a little bit, and then we’ll see what happens in the game.”

With the writing on the wall that a veteran like Brissett will open the 2024 season as New England’s bridge starter, Thursday marked a prime opportunity for Maye to earn heavy reps in a game situation — especially against a Carolina team that rested most of its starters at Gillette Stadium. 

Instead, most of New England’s snaps went to Zappe, who earned limited reps through the first two weeks of training camp and is likely on the outside looking in at a roster spot come September.

Perhaps New England was trying to showcase Zappe in order to try and find a trade partner for the 25-year-old QB. 

But one has to think that any NFL team interested in Zappe can just look at his regular-season reps last season as a proper gauge for his playing capabilities, rather than comb over preseason film against third-string Panthers players.  

For Mayo, one of the determining factors in allocating one series to Maye was the risk involved in putting the young QB on the field with New England’s second and third-string offensive linemen. 

Maye’s lone drive came with most of New England’s expected starters up front, with additional reps with fellow rookies like tackle Caedan Wallace increasing the chances of the team’s most prized asset getting walloped on the gridiron.

“That’s always a consideration,” Mayo said when asked if New England’s O-line depth chart played a part in the decision. “If he’s in there, you want him in there with the starting offensive line. We gotta protect that guy. Not saying that we don’t have to protect the other guys, but that absolutely did go into it.” 

Even though Mayo stressed that a new week spent practicing against the Eagles in Foxborough should open the door for Maye to increase his workload, the case can be made that New England is squandering chances to give Maye valuable snaps in real-game situation before determining just how ready he is for regular-season play.

Maye acknowledged after Thursday’s win that he learned about his limited reps “a couple days” before New England’s preseason opener. 

Still, he stressed that he’s happy with the amount of work that’s been put on his plate so far during training camp. 

“I think I’m getting a lot of reps in practice,” Maye said. “I think practice goes to show — practice matters. … So I think the amount of reps I’m getting in practice is great for me, and I’m just trying to take in all the reps that I am getting. I’m gonna make the most of them.” 

“This is a huge week for us against Philly,” Mayo added. “We’ll see what happens in practice and then also in the game, but [Maye’s] ready to go. When he’s ready to go, we’ll put him in.”