Training camp kicks off in a little over a week. Where does the time go? I'm in camp shape already and am trying to get you there as well with my positional previews. Today, quarterbacks, with the focus mainly on the future of the franchise.
QBs: Drake Maye, Joshua Dobbs, Ben Wooldridge
What I Like About This Group: The upside of Maye and the knowledge that Dobbs can get you by in a pinch (I'm talking a game, maybe two)
What I Dislike About This Group: I would have aimed higher for the third quarterback, likely taking one on day three of the draft. That isn't about the now for me. It's about developing a possible asset for the future.
X-Factor: Can Maye toe the line between being a playmaker and minimizing the risk? He struggled with that aspect a year ago, but the team was horrible. This team shouldn't be that.
Several things will need to happen for the Patriots to be a playoff team, and Maye's development is at the top of the list. He has all the physical tools an outstanding NFL QB needs. Maye's big, has good feet, a potent arm, and the requisite toughness that we often mention when discussing the game's elite. As can happen with young players, there's a lot to learn at this level, and progression is rarely linear. There are peaks and valleys, and no doubt, Maye experienced that last season - as we all did watching him - whether it was the turnovers, some bouts of inaccuracy, and when that toughness turned into recklessness at times. I'm sure Mike Vrabel and McDaniels have already had the conversation with the 22-year-old about availability being one of the best abilities. The drop-off from him to Dobbs is greater than at any other position on the roster unless Stefon Diggs returns to 2021-22 form.
I thought Maye recovered from the four-interception day this spring and had three strong practices with the media in attendance. The last one we saw wasn't at the same level, and he struggled in the red area. Not having Diggs or Mack Hollins has to be acknowledged, but there's no telling if he'll have either of those guys for the full slate (both are over 30 and coming off injuries). Maye will have to figure out which players from the younger receiving corps he can trust in tighter spaces and money downs. That's an important box to check during training camp.
Another will be playing faster in the McDaniels scheme. There was plenty of talk that the complexities of the offense would be stripped down some and that former offensive coordinators-now-staffers Thomas Brown and Todd Downing would help with that. Hunter Henry didn't seem to think anything had changed, and he's one of the few who have been in the system before. That will challenge Maye, and leads me to one of the more fascinating (at least I thought so) conversations I had this offseason.
I spoke with three different defensive coordinators who faced Maye a season ago to gauge their impressions of him before and after their game.
For starters, all three, to a man, believed he was even more physically talented than they had thought (and all thought highly of him going in).
"That arm is high level," one said, pointing out the variety of throws Maye completed against his team. "Like, don't think he can't access a certain part of the field. He absolutely can and did against us."
"He's got some wild horse in his game," noted another, "but his running ability is something we had to be aware of. He's pretty strong. If he puts on another 10-15 pounds or so, he could impact the game in that manner like Josh (Allen) does."
"He ran around and made shit happen against us," added the third coordinator. "Really frustrating for guys on the front end, having to chase him, and for the coverage players on the back end. It's hard to plaster for four or five seconds."
PFF's numbers had Maye 9th for qualifying quarterbacks in their big-time throw metric on dropbacks 2.5 seconds or longer. That's defined as "a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window." The top five players on that list are Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, and C.J. Stroud. The player right behind Maye on the list is none other than Patrick Mahomes (speaking of broken offenses, that was KC's last year). That's pretty good company, wouldn't you say?
The flip side of that is a turnover-worthy percentage ("a pass that has a high percentage chance to be intercepted or a poor job of taking care of the ball and fumbling") that was 6th worst in the league. The 10 interceptions and nine fumbles don't define who Maye is, but I'm not willing to sweep it under the rug either.
The Pats will want Maye to play more on schedule, but also won't want to strip away that playmaking vibe. Can he quickly grasp his fourth new system in four years while also out-thinking coordinators with oodles of NFL experience? That leads me back to those conversations with the DCs.
"We thought he wouldn't be able to solve all the problems we presented, and that was proven right," said one (another concurred: "He's not there, yet."). While that's not uncommon for a young quarterback, it does speak to some of the critiques of Maye coming out of North Carolina. If he's going to take that year two leap, the staff will have to unlock that part of his brain. Do that, and we could easily be talking about a top-half or even top-10 quarterback by season's end. Don't, while the first guys picked after him - fellow draft classmates Michael Penix (8th), J.J. McCarthy (11th), and Bo Nix (12th) shine - and the conversation around Maye will change, and the pressure on him will be turned up. But we're a long way from there.
One last note from my conversations with those defensive coordinators. All believed that Maye did more with less last year than any of the quarterbacks picked above (Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels) or below him (McCarthy missed the entire season) - "Not a game-changer anywhere else on that offense," said one - but caution that this offseason's acquisitions still leaves more questions than answers (tackle, WR, interior OL). "They're asking a lot of unproven players or ones at or near the end," said another.
As for Dobbs, the well-traveled veteran backup was drafted in 2017 by the Steelers, didn't see game action until a year later (12 pass attempts), then finally emerged as a viable backup in 2022 when a desperate Vrabel inserted him into the starting lineup basically minutes after plucking him off the Lions practice squad (Tannehill was injured and Malik Willis was overmatched as a rookie). The Titans didn't make the playoffs, but Dobbs' poise, leadership, and brain - he absorbed the playbook in days - earned him cache league-wide.
He played a ton in 2023, appearing in eight games for the Cardinals and then, once again, being called upon by a new team, the Vikings, in an attempt to save their season. Dobbs' performances in his first two starts, against the Falcons and Saints, were something special, notably the Atlanta win.
It didn't last - Dobbs was later benched for Nick Mullens - but he is someone you can turn to in a pinch and, at least for a couple of weeks, remain competitive, and who knows? Maybe even get a little magic out of him.
Finally, Wooldridge. He spent seven years in college (why didn't I think of this approach?) and is 25. He's not the biggest dude (6'2", 215), but he is a good athlete (4.81 40) and the reigning Sun Belt Conference offensive player of the year. His best game came against Wake Forest, a step-up in competition (257 yards, 3 TDs). Wooldridge's ball placement was spotty in the spring, but the Pats didn't feel compelled to invite another quarterback for the start of camp.
