Through the Patriots' first 20 games last season -- a combination of the regular season and the three playoff games leading into the Super Bowl -- there wasn't a single game that Drake Maye finished with more than one interception. It was a breakthrough year that saw Maye finish as MVP runner-up and catapult himself onto the short list of the NFL's best young quarterbacks. Eight months later, the 24-year old is now coming off his third multi-interception performance in New England's last four games dating back to that Super Bowl loss to Seahawks.
It's part of a maddening run for Maye and the Patriots, who are off to a 1-2 start just a season after advancing to the Super Bowl. A large part of that has been regression from Maye that's surprised many around the NFL, including (based on grades from Pro Football Focus) the worst game of his career last week during the Patriots' 35-6 loss to the Jaguars. Maye finished with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
In all through the first three games of this season, the 2024 and 2025 Pro Bowl selection has six interceptions with just one touchdown, has yet to eclipse 208 passing yards in any individual game and has a QB rating (58.6) that ranks as the worst in the NFL among quarterbacks who've made more than two starts. It's led to some in NFL coaching and front office circles starting to wonder whether Maye's confidence is on a downward spiral. "When I when I studied him when he was coming out (of college), you saw the athletic ability and you saw the arm talent but, especially his last year at North Carolina, there were just a lot of the misses, and the missed throws were kind of alarming and some instinctual things too," a veteran NFL front office staffer told CBS Sports.
"Then last year (in that second season in New England), he looked just a lot more comfortable and in command and like the game had slowed down for him. But now this year it almost looks like it's kind of sped up for him a little bit. And some of the misses, whether it be mis-read or missed throw, some of those things have just kind of popped up a little bit more and he's just not taking care of the ball all that well.
"He just doesn't look comfortable and confident out there right now, especially when he's in the pocket. You still see how much talent he has. It's just very up and down play in and play out." Opposing team staffers also see teams having success generating pressuring on Maye and that impacting him.
In Super Bowl LX, the Seahawks had six sacks of Maye. Then in Week 1, Seattle again had success pressuring him, this time, as described by sources familiar with their gameplan, shifting to more zone blitzes instead of man-to-man pressures after the Patriots' offseason wide receiver additions. The Seahawks finished with three sacks and three interceptions.
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