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Training Camp Preview: Quarterbacks

Starting with McDaniels, the veteran OC's experience as a play-caller and offensive architect is a welcomed addition as a primary voice in Maye's development. From this perspective, the drop-back passing game will mostly look familiar, but scheme adaptations to highlight Maye's mobility will also be present. For example, we could see West Coast elements such as outside zone-bootleg sequencing from under center mixed in with McDaniels's typical brand of gap runs and gap play-action plays off those downhill runs. The Patriots quarterback's ability to throw off bootlegs makes sense, given how smooth he is on the move.

McDaniels could also incorporate more designed quarterback runs. Last season, 45 of Maye's 54 rush attempts were via scrambles rather than as part of the play design. Although the Patriots will likely want to be selective with how often they run Maye, it could be very effective in high-leverage situations such as short-yardage or goal-line plays, where Maye's skill as a runner can stress the defense, making for easier conversions either by the Pats QB running it himself or just using Maye as a decoy to keep the defense honest.

In 2020, McDaniels installed a diverse quarterback run package for former Patriots QB Cam Newton. Maye is a different kind of athlete compared to Newton, who was a 6-5, 250-pound battering ram who was at his best running downhill. McDaniels called designed runs for Newton on 117 rush attempts, which seems way too high of a number for Maye. Still, Newton's lone season with the Patriots shows that McDaniels is capable of incorporating read-options and quarterback runs into the offense.

There's great potential with the Maye-McDaniels pairing, and Maye showed rapid improvement with an improved comfort level within the scheme as the spring progressed. That said, one area worth monitoring is how Maye handles having the pre-snap controls at the line of scrimmage. In his system, McDaniels puts the quarterback in charge of making pre-snap protection calls and setting the MIKE points. During his rookie season, Maye's center was responsible for those things. Some other nuances will be different, such as play-call verbiage, but if the spring was any indication, Maye is picking them up quickly.

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