Thursday Patriots Notebook 6/6: News and Notes

Could Trouble Up Front Hamper Maye’s Progress?
It’s been another busy week for the Patriots, who are continuing to work on ironing out the kinks ahead of their upcoming 2024 football season.

In his most recent podcast with Nick Cattles, Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal talked about the recent happenings this week during the Patriots’ open practice, with obviously one of the big questions being the progress of rookie quarterback Drake Maye.

During the session, Maye had some uneven moments, many of which were caused during the 11-on-11 portion when the offensive line took the field. Missing were tackles Mike Onwenu and Chukwuma Okorafor, with the club still obviously trying to figure things out on that side of the line ahead of this upcoming season.

Another interesting note is the fact rookie Javon Baker was limited during practice, with the young receiver spending most of his time with fellow draft pick Marcellas Dial on one of the conditioning fields, with neither player reportedly participating in any of the drills.

That left the offense slightly depleted. Between Baker’s absence and players missing up front, it definitely caused sine issues.

Bedard said that when Maye was out there for 7-on-7s, things looked good. But it wasn’t until the full unit took the field that things deteriorated, which Bedard explained ended up being true for both quarterbacks.

“I will say, in 7-on-7, Drake looks very clean. Which is good,” said Bedard. “I wouldn’t necessarily say you expect that, but certainly the chances are increased because you’re not dealing with the pass rush. You’re not dealing with the offensive line. But once the offensive line came on the field today, it was a complete train wreck for the offense.”

“And it wasn’t just Drake. I mean, he did throw two interceptions. One was a great diving play by Kyle Dugger. The other one, I couldn’t tell whether he wanted to go short JuJu [Smith-Schuster] but there was an over receiver as well and he ended up just throwing it in between them, right to some cornerback I’ve never heard of.”

Bedard mentioned that the pass rush was an issue, which disrupted things and made it tough for either quarterback to operate. However, the concern right now, given the fact Maye’s been focused on his fundamentals and his footwork, whether or not the stress of being under duress might cause a potential setback in his progress.

“So you worry about the stress of the situations of the pass rush and the offensive line and navigating all that stuff, whether that eliminates the progress that he has made with his footwork and things like that,” said Bedard. “Because, I think, that’s the whole thing. That’s the biggest thing when we talk about ‘how early can he start?’ You’re just worried about if things aren’t right around him, does he just revert back to what he was? Is that really the wisest thing for the New England Patriots?”

Bedard also brought up Maye’s throwing motion, which he explained looked better, but he still has some things to fix.

“I guess I would say yes,” said Bedard. “A little bit. I still don’t love his motion. I don’t like the hitch. We’ll see whether if that’s a problem. Some guys have it and they’re just so talented that they overcome it, especially because of arm strength so he could be one of those guys.”

“I wouldn’t say the whole hitch thing is huge concern right now. I do worry about, when those type of things kind of get exposed in the heat of camp against the first team defense and really experienced guys.”

Key Questions Remain Up Front
There was one notable change at practice, with veteran Calvin Anderson seeing snaps with the first team offense with Okorafor not out there.

Anderson saw time at left tackle, with Sidy Sow working at left guard, David Andrews at center, Michael Jordan at right guard, while Caedan Wallace spent time at right tackle in place of Onwenu, who also was not on hand.

Seeing Wallace working at right tackle was a little surprising, especially given that he’s expected to be transitioning over to the left side. However, head coach Jerod Mayo did somewhat foreshadow ahead of practice the fact that versatility continues to be a theme, although it caught some – including Bedard – off guard.

“So Wallace, who we’ve heard they’re going to make him a left tackle, Okorofor is not there and all of a sudden he’s over at right tackle?” said Bedard. “I don’t really understand that.”

That first team struggled in protection, which caused issues for both quarterbacks. However, the second team apparently fared even worse. It’s for that reason that Bedard said it’s too early to panic, given that the club needs to find a unit that can provide the proper protection for either quarterback to have a chance out there.

“That was a rough group, which led to an even rougher group,” said Bedard. “The second team was Tyrone Wheatley, Nick Leverett, Atonio Mafi, Layden Robinson, and Vederian Lowe.”

“You look at those guys, I mean Sow, Andrews, out of all those guys, really, Sow and Andrews are the only guys that you can say right now are NFL starting caliber players. So that looked rough with the offensive line.”

“Without NFL offensive lineman or guys who have a chance, but we don’t know yet, obviously it’s going to look rough. And it did. So I’m not going to panic yet.”

Odds and Ends
The Patriots announced the signing of fourth-round draft pick Layden Robinson on Wednesday, which saw yet another rookie get their deal checked off. The club now has one player left to get signed, with fellow draft pick Ja’Lynn Polk being the final deal still left to get consummated ahead of training camp. … Robinson was out there with the second team offense, working at his natural position at guard. He’s a player who has a lot of athleticism, which should be a nice fit in the club’s new offensive scheme. … Bedard said that Mafi had a tough outing at center, with the team continuing to give him reps there. “He had a rough time with snaps,” he said. “Several high snaps. Couldn’t even tell how well he was doing in pass protection. There was a lot of middle pressure.” Mafi was out there in place of Jake Andrews, who missed practice. … Matthew Judon remains missing from team sessions. There had been rumors that he might have been close to a new deal but so far, it’s yet to come to fruition. … Demario Douglas’ performance this week was impressive, with the second-year wideout hauling in multiple touchdowns during practice. That’s an area that he talked about improving in earlier this offseason, with Douglas finishing his rookie season second on the team in receptions last season, but without a touchdown. … After being waived by the Patriots recently, it looks like former draft pick Andrew Stueber has a new home. He was claimed by the Falcons, with the former Michigan standout now hoping likely hoping to keep his NFL journey going down in Atlanta.

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