Patriots confident in their ability to support first-round draft pick Drake Maye

New England selected the North Carolina quarterback in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

One of the most wide-spread pre-draft notions was that the New England Patriots would be a challenging landing spot for any rookie quarterback. Not only is the team coming off a 4-13 season and entering a major rebuild in Year 1 after long-time head coach Bill Belichick, it also lacks the same talent on its roster that other teams such as Minnesota or Chicago have.

All of that is true. The Patriots still feel confident in their ability to support their new first-round draft quarterback, North Carolina’s Drake Maye.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday night, shortly after they selected Maye third overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf and head coach Jerod Mayo addressed the topic of support. They feel strongly they have a structure in place both on and off the field to allow the 21-year-old to reach his potential.

“With coaching and the hard work and the coaches that we have, the support system from ownership, I think he has a chance to go out there and really play at a high level,” said Mayo.

The Patriots offense was one of the least productive in the NFL in 2023. Lackluster performances by Maye’s predecessors Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe — the latter still being on the roster in a backup capacity — played a major part in this, but insufficient quality and depth all over the unit did not help either.

Players who typically would see only limited action such as Jalen Reagor, Vederian Lowe or Atonio Mafi ended up playing substantial snaps. However, they failed to elevate the offense around them and also had a hand in their unit’s demise.

From top to bottom, the Patriots simply were not good enough on offense last year.

Adding Maye should help change that. However, Wolf pointed out that getting him is just the first step and that building the offense around him will be the next.

“I just think we need to support him in any way we can, on the field, off the field,” he said at the podium on Thursday night. “We need to add some weapons to the offense. We need to shore up the offensive line. We have good players already at those positions but really just increasing the depth and the competition.”

Maye himself is not worried about any of that. On the contrary, he believes that questions about the quality of the team he was just drafted into are overblown.

“I think they’re wrong,” he said on a video call. “The defense last year held a lot of teams to low points, and I’m looking forward to helping in any way offensively, and just looking forward to be there with Coach Mayo in his first year. … I think, hopefully, we’ll find out this coming season. I’m going to work hard with the guys and prove them wrong.”