Is Drake Maye the Patriots starter? New England OC stops short of naming #3 overall pick QB1
The New England Patriots selected Drake Maye third overall in the NFL draft, but that doesn't mean he's automatically going to be the starter. Some teams give their first-round quarterbacks some time to grow and others toss them right into the fire in Week 1.
Alex Van Pelt, the Patriots' offensive coordinator, was asked directly when Maye would be the starter. For now, he's not. Van Pelt gave the nod to Jacoby Brissett, a veteran who's been with the Patriots before. The timeline is currently not specified, and it will all depend on "a few factors."
Drake Maye is younger than most rookie QB prospects. He is just 21 years old, which was a big factor in many analysts believing he was a prime candidate to sit for a year while he developed further.
Additionally, there is no consensus on what's best for QB development. For every Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes (those who sat first), there is a C.J. Stroud or a Cam Newton. Maye might sit, like the former group.
Should Drake Maye sit?
There are two camps when it comes to quarterback development, and they both have plenty of evidence to back their side up. Other than the Mahomes-Brady 'sit-until-ready' philosophy, Peyton Manning, a Hall of Famer who started from the beginning, is in the camp of starting players immediately.
Via the New England Patriots website, Manning said:
"I think experience is still your best teacher. I think any quarterback would tell you, you just learn more things than you do sitting on the sideline. Any quarterback will tell you that. I went 3-13 my rookie year and didn't play very well. We went 13-3 the next year.
"There's no way that would have happened had I not played and kind of gone through those struggles and thrown those interceptions and figured out 'Hey, OK, I can't do that anymore. Hey, these guys are faster.' You just sort of file it all away.
"Eli [Manning] played, I think, six games his rookie year, and he said what he learned in the six that he played was night and day to the 10 that he sat."
The Patriots are still figuring out what they'll do with Maye, who is as promising as any rookie quarterback. Manning has valid reasons for his perspective, but there are advantages to either way and for now, Drake Maye is not the starter.