Patriots rookies: Drake Maye an ‘anomaly’ among offensive teammates

FOXBORO — The Patriots spent seven of their eight picks in the 2024 NFL Draft on offensive players, but quarterback Drake Maye has been the team’s only consistent contributor through 12 weeks of the season.

Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt called Maye an “anomaly” among his class because he’s “playing high level for a rookie quarterback.”

Van Pelt has not given up on the rest of the group, despite slow starts to their NFL careers.

“Those guys are going to be good players,” Van Pelt said. (Guard) Layden (Robinson), (offensive tackle) Caedan (Wallace), (tight end Jaheim) Bell, I mean, all of those guys, really happy with them. Are they starters in the NFL yet? Maybe not, but I think developable and I think they’ll be there for us in the future. …

“I’m not down on any of our rookies at all. I think there’s a lot of potential in those guys, but they’re young players, and they have to continue to grow within the system.”

Wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk continues to receive offensive snaps but he has little production to show for it with 12 catches for 87 yards with two touchdowns in 11 games with six starts. Wallace is currently on injured reserve but could see snaps at right tackle in his return. Robinson has started six games this season but has been benched twice. He could start this Sunday against the Colts after the Patriots released left guard Michael Jordan on Tuesday.

“Appreciate Michael’s efforts. He gave us everything he had. I really do appreciate that he worked his butt off for us,” Van Pelt said. “But it does give us an opportunity to get some younger players in and continue to develop our draft picks.”

The Patriots could also elect to start Sidy Sow, Tyrese Robinson, Lester Cotton or Cole Strange in that spot. Strange returned to practice last week but remains on the PUP list.

Wide receiver Javon Baker has yet to tally his first NFL catch despite appearing in seven games. Van Pelt was asked what Baker has to do to receive more consistent snaps in games.

“Have more consistent snaps in practice,” Van Pelt said.

Earlier in the season, Van Pelt said that Baker still needed to know where to line up and what routes to run. He said those are things the rookie receiver still needs to work on.

“Yeah, I think everybody does. It’s the details,” Van Pelt said. “The young guys, they just have to understand that this is a spacing game. Got to be in the right spot at the right time. Time’s up with the quarterback’s foot, his footwork, and we’re not quite there yet. We’re getting there, but this isn’t street ball. We’re just not going where we feel like we need to be. It’s got to be precise, and that’s how the passing game works in the NFL. These guys will continue to grow.”

Van Pelt was critical of Maye, as well. The rookie quarterback has 11 turnovers through six starts, and he leads qualified QBs in turnover-worthy plays since becoming a starter.

Maye acknowledged Tuesday that his turnovers are a problem. It’s worth noting that many of his interceptions and fumbles have come when he’s trying to make a play late in a game to give the Patriots a chance while trailing.

“The turnovers, they have to stop. There’s no excuses there, rookie, 10-year player, vet, it doesn’t matter. We can’t turn the ball over and expect to win games. So, that’s definitely an emphasis for us.

“With Drake, he just continues to develop. You forget sometimes that he is a rookie. There are some mistakes that he’ll make just from experience that he just gets more reps in a certain place and understanding the concepts, but he continues to develop and does a really nice job. He’s got to take care of the football.”

The Patriots took two more rookies late in the draft. Quarterback Joe Milton III, a sixth-rounder, has yet to be active as the third-stringer behind Maye and Jacoby Brissett. Bell has played 33 offensive snaps with one 1-yard catch.